[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.]


OS/2 e-Zine!		December 16, 1997		volume 2, number 12
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1997		Falcon Networking  	ISSN 1203-5696

                  "Over Half a Million Satisfied Visitors!"


OPINIONS:

  From the Editor
  Chris' Rant
  I Have a Dream
 
DEPARTMENTS:

  the Beta File
  Answers from e-Zine!
  News from the OS/2 World
  the REXX Files


REVIEWS:

ExCal v3.0 - Chris Wenham
IBM Works PIM - Christopher B. Wright
SmartSuite Organizer Beta - Chris Wenham
Relish v2.2 - Chris Wenham

Hacksaw v1.0 - Dr. Dirk Terrell
Internet Gate v1.21 - Chris Williams
WebMirror v1.10 - Dr. Dirk Terrell

RSJ CD Writer v2.52 - Chris Williams


READER SURVEY

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

What do you think about IBM's FixPaks?
    Answer these 3 simple questions and find out how you compare to
    other OS/2 users.  Results will be printed next month!

1997 Readers' Choice Voting
    It's time to vote for your favourite products and developers in
    the 1997 OS/2 e-Zine! Readers' Choice Awards!


CELEBRITY CORNER

The Win32-OS/2 Binary Project Q&A - Chris Wenham
    Each month, OS/2 e-Zine! brings you IBMers, ISVs, OS/2
    industry personalities, and celebrities to share their opinions
    and more!  This month, we bring you the complete log of the recent
    VOICE Win32-OS/2 Binary Project on-line chat.


END NOTES:

  Hot Sellers - the top 10 selling OS/2 apps from BMT Micro.
  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 Mensys.


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

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

Finally, Internet Banking

Many months ago I wrote in these pages about the great leap forward my bank had taken, and the problems it had caused me.  I am referring to my (http://www.os2ezine.com/v1n13/editor.htm) editorial about the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce's (CIBC) implementation of on-line banking and the issues that prevented me from using their system with OS/2.  (Originally, CIBC relied on a proprietary Windows dialer provided by IBM which could be run in a WIN-OS/2 session, but was not as preferable as a native OS/2 solution.)

Since that time, things have continued to improve in the banking industry, and (http://www.cibc.com/) CIBC has been no exception.  They, like many other banks in the US and Canada, have implemented a system of Internet banking which relies on a secure, 128-bit encryption-capable WWW browser.  For most OS/2 users, this would not be much better than the earlier Windows dialer, since IBM and Netscape are very unfriendly when it comes to requests for the 128-bit encryption version of Navigator for OS/2.  Such a program does exist, they will probably tell you, but if you're not an IBM employee, it is just as probable that you will be denied access to it.

Since this was exactly the response I received from IBM (actually, what I received was no response) and since I was truly pining for a Warp-based Internet banking experience, it was with great interest that I discovered some people had found copies of the 128-bit Netscape Navigator for OS/2 outside of IBM.  In fact, in the past months I received a few notes pointing me to a program named 'ns2_128_US.zip' on various FTP sites.

Even though IBM wouldn't give me a copy of this program due to "legal issues", Netscape's web site indicates that Canadian citizens are technically allowed under US law to receive 128-bit encryption software, so I felt reasonably safe from prosecution when I downloaded.  However, I certainly don't want to encourage others to download software which IBM doesn't want them to have and which may be illegal in their locality, so unfortunately I can't pass on the address for the file.  Of course, if the US government and IBM had any wits about them at all, they would realize that a few minutes with (http://ftpsearch.ntnu.no/) some freely accessible FTP search engines will yield this information to anyone interested enough to look.

So, I had finally gotten hold of the elusive 128-bit encryption version of Navigator for OS/2, or so it seemed.  What else would my first test of this wonder of wonders be but to log onto my bank and check my account balance?  Except this is where I ran into a slight problem: CIBC's server told me that my browser was not acceptable.

The first problem was that CIBC staff erroneously believe that only v3.0 or higher of Navigator can do the tricks they require for "secure banking".  A quick modification of my Navigator object's Properties notebook (adding a '-3' to the "Parameters" field) solved that problem.  But then I encountered a more serious setback.  CIBC still wouldn't let me into their main PC Banking page, claiming that my browser did not have Javascript enabled.  The problem was, I did Javascript enabled.  I visited a few sites that I knew to use Javascript (such as (http://www.os2ezine.com/) www.os2ezine.com) and checked my options notebook to make sure, but no matter what I did, CIBC still insisted I did not have a Javascript-enabled browser.

This was less than encouraging, but I decided to give the bank's tech support a call.  Sadly, my pessimism seemed well-founded, as the staff told me they had no idea what the problem was and suggested that I use the Windows version of Navigator.

This would have been less frustrating if a reader hadn't contacted me and told me that a competing bank, (http://www.mbanx.com/) mbanx, had a similar system that worked perfectly with the 128-bit encryption version of Navigator for OS/2.

Feeling a little angry, I called CIBC back to tell them that their competition had its act together and that they should fix the problem or lose a customer.  This is roughly the conversation we had:

Me: Who should I contact to lodge an official complaint/suggestion about my browser not being recognized by your PC Banking web site?

Staff: Well, there isn't really anything wrong, it's just that the OS/2 browser probably doesn't have the same level of Javascript that the Win3.x browser does.  You should use the Windows browser.

(Note that the person I was speaking with didn't actually have a copy of the 128-bit encryption version of Netscape Navigator for OS/2 to test this, it was just a theory he and his colleague had come up with.)

Me: Uh, yeah, but like I told you, a friend of mine has the exact same OS/2 browser and he is using it to access mbanx with no problems.

Staff: Yes, but we're not mbanx.  This is just the way that CIBC has set up their PC Banking network.

Me: That's what I'm trying to tell you.  This is what we know for sure:

         1. There are at least 2 ways to set up such a network
	2. mbanx has chosen one way, CIBC has chosen another
	3. mbanx's way works with everyone's browsers, CIBC's does not

Therefore, I conclude that you have made the wrong decision, thus excluding some users (notably, me).  Who do I contact to tell them that I'm unhappy with this and that I would like it changed?

Staff: Well, it's like I said, there's not really any problem, if you use a Windows browser in a WIN-OS/2 session, everything should work properly.

Me: (Sigh.)  Right, but who do I contact to tell them that I don't like that; that I want to use my choice of browser, not yours?

Staff: Um...  Well, there is a "feedback" link on our web site and if you use that to send a message, it will be seen by someone who will respond.

Me (to myself): (Yeah, right.)  Thanks, goodbye. -click-

This is all pretty typical and I'm sure anyone who has ever called a tech support line has experienced something similar.  But the story doesn't end there.

Ironically, there never was a problem at all with the OS/2 browser I had procured.  The problem was entirely in the CIBC web validation form.

In a moment of clarity I wondered if the browser would work -- or mostly work -- if I could just get past the web page that checked for Javascript.  Using a Windows browser, I went to the (https://www.pcbanking.cibc.com/retail.html?Logon&exposed=0&appMinorVersion=undefined) login page and bookmarked the URL.  Then, using the OS/2 browser, I jumped directly to that page, bypassing the Javascript validation form.  As you can guess, everything worked (and still works) perfectly.  The "Javascript problem" was entirely fictitious, created by the network "wizard" who set up CIBC's Javascript confirmation page.

I called CIBC back on December 5th and told my whole story and suggested that they might want to make note in case someone else had similar problems.  Ironically, they told me that they were removing the Javascript confirmation form the following week because, "people using Internet Explorer v4.0 were having the same problem."  (You should note though, as of December 16th, the Javascript validation form was still on the WWW, preventing me from using the "front door" to PC Banking.)

So, I was left shaking my head at two things:

1. The irony that Microsoft has changed their browser in a way that has inadvertently allowed me to use my bank more easily with an OS/2 browser; and

2. The fact that the person I originally explained the problem to refused to simply tell me that other people had also had the same problem and that, in fact, the network administrators had already resolved to make a change because of this.  Why was I forced to solve the problem myself and make two separate calls to find this out?

Oh well, at least now I can check my bank balance in a native OS/2 session.

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

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

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

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

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Defend against desktop freezes with Ctrl-Alt-Del Commander and create online documents/help with the IPF Editor.

(http://www.prioritymaster.com/) ScheduPerformance, Inc.
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Home of the bestselling set of disk and desktop maintenance products for 
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Providing quality software for the home and office.

(http://www.sundialsystems.com/) Sundial Systems Corporation
Productivity applications:  Relish - time management; Mesa 2 - spreadsheet; Clearlook - word processor; DBExpert - database.

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

Chris' Rant	- by Chris Wenham

StarOffice and the GUI revolution

Months ago I harped on the miserable state of modern Graphical User Interfaces.  Boy are they still ugly.  The first steps made by Macs, OS/2's PM and Windows helped us achieve rudimentary visual integration by having programs run together on the same screen at the same time.  They were boxed-up in windows, and other than having some common elements and behaviors such as scroll bars, menus and window controls, they all pretty much kept to themselves and defined their own user interface conventions.  This tangled mess is going to be a thing of the past, and one of the applications which is going to tug the rest of the industry kicking and screaming is StarOffice.

StarOffice makes Lotus SmartSuite look like a DOS program.  This is just my personal opinion, but I happen to think StarOffice kicks ass.  What used to be broken up into separate applications (word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentation graphics etc.) is now all neatly integrated -- both visually and functionally.  The dream we had with OS/2's Workplace Shell -- a place where you thought of the type of document you wanted to create instead of what program you'd create it with -- is now real and present.  It's just unfortunate that StarOffice doesn't use the Workplace Shell as its foundations, but builds its own instead.

With StarOffice, what used to be separate programs (StarWrite, StarCalc, StarDraw and others), have all been blended into one.  You don't start StarWrite, you start writing a document.  You don't start StarCalc, you just start creating a spreadsheet.  Everything is brought together under one frame and one program.  It has all the integration of the "Works" packages that were popular in the early 90s, but all the oomph and features you'd expect from an office suite.

Applications need to head into this direction badly, for it's going to make it easier for companies to sell them to the other two-thirds of the world who are still too intimidated by today's complexity to buy a computer.  It's going to make it easier for people to use the tools, and as a result it's going to cut down tremendously on user support and training costs.

StarDivision has set the standard by making an example, yet it won't be StarOffice that you'll see running on everybody's computers.  What you'll see are modularized applications, built with technologies such as JavaBeans (the one I'm rooting for), and hopefully to a much much lesser degree; Microsoft's DNA (a.k.a.  ActiveX, a.k.a.  COM, a.k.a.  OLE, a.k.a.  DDE-on-steroids.) 

These technologies will let applications talk to each other, share a common interface as they do in StarOffice, and act as if you were only running one program on your computer instead of five or six.

As OS/2 users we're due to see a lot of this come our way.  OS/2 already has the best Java virtual machine available and the commitment of a huge company with staggering resources to keep it alive.  Yes, IBM has settled on a platform it intends to use to wipe out Microsoft's Windows dominance with.  IBM is comin' atcha like a fist-of-God, with billions of dollars of research, marketing and development -- just like we've been dreaming of.  But OS/2 is not that platform -- Java is.

We can already see IBM following the lead that StarOffice is taking.  e-Suite from their Lotus division has that kind of integration (although I haven't tried it myself, so excuse me if I stretch my assumptions here just a little bit,) and more importantly it's written in 100% Pure Java.

Microsoft is on its way down.  Everything it has been doing lately is a reaction, not an initiative.  It's like a tired boxer who keeps his guard up but can't make any punches himself.

Meanwhile, somebody poke somebody at StarDivision in the ribs.  I'm tired of these perpetual betas, I want to see this thing ship.

               * * *

(http://www.spectra.net/~fox/) Chris Wenham is a freelance web designer, writer and Englishman who now lives in Endicott, NY.   In the past he has written comedy, sci-fi, Pascal, Rexx, HTML and Gibberish.   He has been using OS/2 exclusively for the past 2 years.

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

I Have a Dream	- by Fernando Cassia

Call me naive, call me stupid, but I have this dream.

Sometime in 1998, IBM PSP grants Stardock a license to remarket and enhance OS/2 in parallel with IBM.   IBM continues to sell OS/2 with their own "vision" to Fortune 500 companies and the financial market.   Workplace On Demand and Warp Server continue to be enhanced.   Stardock gets this license since they agree to give a percentage of their 'remarketed OS' sales revenues to IBM PSP for further OS/2 base development.   

At the same time, Stardock would be free to bundle/unbundle products from the Warp 4 base (like integrating some of OD's features into the base package, and removing the AS400/3270 emulators and other stuff which is of no real use for SOHO users).   So, users would have "Warp 4 / OS/2 v5" from IBM and "OS/2 Desktop" from Stardock.

The end result is, like in the Linux world, an independent release of OS/2, on CD, featuring the latest Warp 4 base + OD integration, Java 1.1 / 1.3?  + Acrobat Reader and Netscape for OS/2 (Communicator?/Navigator 4?), the latest Creative drivers and applets (as in Colin Hildinger's SBINSTALL package).   ALL THIS ON A SEAMLESS SINGLE INSTALL.   

With the users having the choice of purchasing it bundled with Lotus SmartSuite for OS/2 or StarOffice 4.0.

Then both Stardock, and StarDivision (even Lotus if they want, which I don't think so :) would  co-market this bundle on their respective web sites for companies and  individuals who want a "single-box" solution for their desktop OS office needs but don't want to use a Microsoft OS, or those who already have an investment on OS/2.   (This could also help boost sales of IBM Warp Server!).

Oh, BTW: on my dream this dream CD had a price tag of $350 / $400 (not bad for a complete solution with a 32-bit OS, Web Browser and office suite!).

And to end this dream, David Barnes would join this venture and tour the country promoting this to OS/2 user groups.

OK, some the readers might be at this point suggesting a 'reality check':  "Fighting Microsoft is impossible" ... "We could never do that" ... "There's no market for that" ... etc.

But I have to ask, has anyone tried?  Anyone seen how Caldera is offering a bundle of Linux, StarOffice and Netscape on a box on the web?  Who's purchasing that?  Wouldn't they purchase an OS/2 version too?  What about us OS/2 diehards?

All the companies in this venture would certainly have much to GAIN by doing this: IBM PSP: OS/2 market share, a better image of its OS, a boost in server sales; Lotus and StarDivision: recognition for their office suites and a high degree of the OS/2 market share; Stardock: increase of OS/2 user base, increased sales for all their other OS/2 products.  Netscape: market share for its browser in its fight against Internet Explorer.

This wouldn't have to go 'against' IBM's Network Computing efforts.   In fact, it can complement them.   Those who want a thin client get it, those 'power users' who prefer a "fat" client get it.   Those who prefer Notes can also run it, so Lotus gains from this too!  All runs on OS/2.   Warp Server gets more sales.   Only Microsoft loses.

I certainly would love to have the power to have Mike Lawrie, Brad Wardell, Marco Borries and James Bakersdale get on a conference call, or better a plane to a meeting somewhere, and hear them discuss the ins and outs of this "dream".

What I'm 100% sure is that this couldn't HURT IBM or any of the involved parties in ANY way.   (At least I couldn't imagine how this would)

               * * *

(fcassia@theoffice.net) Fernando Cassia lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina and is the author of the '(http://os2warp-cdr.home.ml.org) OS/2 Warp and (HP) CD-Writers F.A.Q.'.

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

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!

               * * *

We'll start off this month with a few updates to beta programs e-Zine's already mentioned.

Nick Knight's MR/2 Newsreader (mentioned in (http://www.os2ezine.com/v2n6/beta.htm) June '97), has been updated (12/09/97) to (http://www.apk.net/secant/nick/news43.zip) beta #43 (ZIP, 1M).

The ProNews newsreader (mentioned in (http://www.os2ezine.com/v2n7/beta.htm) July '97) has also been updated again (11/20/97), to (http://www.program.com/panacea/pn210b4b.zip) beta 4B (ZIP, 1M).

WarpAMP, the GUI MP3 player mentioned in (http://www.os2ezine.com/v2n8/beta.htm) August '97, has been updated (11/26/97) to (ftp://sdg.ml.org/ftp/pub/warpamp/wamp_b3a.zip) beta 3a (ZIP, 260k); more info at its (http://sdg.ml.org/warpamp.html) new home page.

Richard Castle's Dialog Enhancer (mentioned in (http://www.os2ezine.com/v2n11/beta.htm) November '97) has
been updated (12/15/97) to (http://www-student.lboro.ac.uk/~mcrsc/de/download/depk1161.zip) beta 1.61 (ZIP, 512k), and has had its text-mode install program traded in for a GUI install program currently at (http://www-student.lboro.ac.uk/~mcrsc/de/download/pminstb1.zip) beta one (ZIP, 393k).

The graphics front-end IPAD (mentioned in (http://www.os2ezine.com/v2n7/beta.htm) July '97) , received an incremental update (11/16/97) to (http://www.demon.co.uk/cgi-bin/titan/getfile?/IPAD/os2/ipad502b.zip) version 5.0.2 (ZIP, 550k), and last but not least, the background changer ShowTime/2 (mentioned in (http://www.os2ezine.com/v2n11/beta.htm) November '97) has been updated (11/22/97) to (http://fm-net.com/pillarsoft/pub/showtime.zip) beta 1.02.

               * * *

The second beta version of (http://www.lotus.com) Lotus SmartSuite for OS/2 Warp 4 has been publicly released. Whereas the first beta required installation of a special edition of Warp 4 FixPak 3, beta 2 (and upcoming versions of SmartSuite) uses regular FixPaks. So, if you've already installed FixPak 5, you don't need any more fixes. See (http://www.os2ezine.com/v2n11/beta.htm) last month's Beta File for details as to what programs SmartSuite for Warp 4 contains.

As with the first beta, the second beta is freely (http://www.aescon.com/bestofos2/ss.htm) downloadable from the Internet (registered Lotus beta testers get a copy free on CD); those who wish to avoid the time and aggravation of downloading over 100 megabytes of files (FixPak 5 is 29 Mb, the Suite itself is 107 Mb) can purchase a copy on CD from a reseller such as (http://www.indelible-blue.com/ibapps/products.nsf/d59eb47ad3346913852564c100706c8b/934d5c4a140748358525654800680ebf/) Indelible Blue or (https://www.os2store.com/proddes/lotus_sswarp4_beta.html) J3 Computer Technologies.  (Materials, time and labor costs bring the cost of the CD to US$10 before shipping.)  The CDs contain a copy of FixPak 5 if you haven't installed it already. Again, no word is yet available from Lotus of the final intended price of SmartSuite for Warp 4, but since SmartSuite 96 for is now selling for about US$399 at both of the above places, it's a safe bet that SmartSuite for Warp 4's full price will be above $400 US (less for academic and upgrades).

                * * *

(breat@dispatch.com) Breant Borghese has released the 14th beta of version 1.71 of Super Pager, a Windows and OS/2 program which can send a message to any alphanumeric pager. This release fixes a few problems with the last beta, as well as adding a number of new network features. Super Pager supports both the commonly-used TAP (Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol) paging protocol as well as the UCP (Universal Computer Protocol) and scripting, for pager systems which don't support TAP. You can use Super Pager to send large messages to a pager (a large message will be broken up into smaller messages and sent piece by piece), or even to page a group of people at once. Just select the people you want to page from a list, and type your message; optionally, specify a log file to keep track of who's been paged and when.

Super Pager is also available in a full-blown server version, which includes a World Wide Web paging client, firewall support, and all of the software necessary for setting up a paging system on your own network. (You can see a demo version of the Web client pager at (http://brent.dispatch.com/cgi-bin/wwwpage/page.htm) http://brent.dispatch.com/cgi-bin/wwwpage/page.htm)

Super Pager is currently available as shareware from (http://www.bmtmicro.com/catalog/superpager/) BMT Micro, although the beta version is only available from the (http://brent.dispatch.com/pub/page/beta/superpg.zip) author's home page. (ZIP, 800k) The shareware version of SuperPager is limited in that the maximum message size it can send to a pager is 30 characters; to do more, you'll have to purchase the program. The Windows client and OS/2 client are each $25 US, but the OS/2 package has a few extra goodies, including a small pager server and the client source code. (The full-blown server version sells for $100 US) For more information on Super Pager, see its page at BMT Micro above or go direct to (http://brent.dispatch.com/sw/sp/) the author's site.

                * * *

(eduardof@grove.ufl.edu) Eduardo Fernandez has recently created a number of Java gizmos which OS/2 users might be interested in, including two in beta: The first, EdSock, is a set of Java-based classes for programmers, used to implement event-driven sockets. It also allows Java programmers to use packets, something which seems to be missing in Java's own libraries. The source code and classes can be downloaded from the (http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~ef0/edsock.html) EdSock web page.

The second is EdCAM. EdCAM v2.0 is a largely Java-based program to stream video across the Internet. The server requires some native OS/2 code, but the client will be fully Java. In its third beta, EdCAM 2.0 currently only has a distribution for the black and white QuickCam under OS/2, but the author would like to add support for as many cameras as possible; if you have a different one, let him know. EdCAM is expected to have one more beta stage before general release, which is hoped will yield streaming results of about one frame per second over a 28.8k modem connection. More information and the required Java classes can be found at the (http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~ef0/edcam.html) EdCAM web page.

Both EdSock and EdCAM are expected to be free for public usage upon finishing beta stages. Any suggestions, bug reports or other comments about either of the two programs should be directed to Eduardo at the e-mail above.

                * * *

(http://www.ceressoft.com) Ceres Software has announced the beta release of version 2 of their SoundStudio software for OS/2. Already available for Windows (v2.31) and Linux (v1.5), SoundStudio is an all-in-one audio recorder, mixer and effect module for creating studio-quality professional audio tracks. Supporting all OS/2-compatible sound cards, SoundStudio allows recording and overlay of up to 32 simultaneous tracks in a WAV or RAW sound file, of any sampling rate up to 44.1 kHz. Your audio files can easily have tag information added to them, including author information, song name, genre, even entries for the names of the technician and engineer.

Some of its other features include simultaneous record/playback, synchronized CD-audio or MIDI play during recording, and the ability to use several sound cards at once. SoundStudio's effects module has a variety of ways to alter your audio creations, including fade in/fade out, echo, distortion effects, velocity tweaks, and more: over 20 effects in all. In order to run SoundStudio, your OS/2 Warp system needs to have DART installed (It's installed automatically with Warp 4, but if you're using Warp 3 you'll need to (http://www.polsci.wvu.edu/Madbrain/dart.html) add it manually).

This (http://www.ceressoft.com/public_ftp/en/os2/sstudio/sstbeta1.zip) beta release (ZIP, 2.3M) is fully functional until January 31st of 1998, after which point it must be purchased, for a price of $149 US. More information about the program can be obtained from Ceres' web site above.

               * * *

(dill@os2ezine.com) Ryan Dill is a student in Computer Science at Acadia University in Wolfville, NS and e-Zine! 's technical editor.   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!

Welcome back to "Answers from e-Zine!", 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!

               * * *

Q -- In the  dozen or so installs I have done, OS/2 always "greys out" the checkbox for XMS (it is checked, though).  Why does it to this?

A -- XMS is required for WIN-OS/2 to work.  If you have WIN-OS/2 checked, the XMS check box will be greyed.  If you uncheck WIN-OS/2, you can also uncheck XMS.  There's probably not a good reason why you'd want to do that, though.

                - (bsa@kf8nh.apk.net) Brandon S.  Allbery

               * * *

Q -- I recently installed a new motherboard and when I booted OS/2 I got a trap in SINGLEQ$ right before the PMShell loaded.  The system worked fine before and I didn't change anything but the motherboard.  I can boot from my system disks and to other OS's.  HELP!

A -- The error in SINGLEQ$ is a dead giveaway that the problem lies with your video drivers.  When OS/2 first starts to boot, hit ALT-F1 to go to the boot menu, and reset OS/2's video driver to the default VGA driver.  It should now boot correctly.  Afterwards, reinstall your video drivers for your video card and you should be OK.  When you installed your new motherboard it's likely that your video card was set up a little differently (it may have been assigned a different IRQ, for instance), so it's likely that after reinstalling it will work OK.

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

               * * *

Q -- Is it possible to set the Icons and Frame Controls in the WPS to 32x32 (icons) and generally smaller (frame controls) while using the Matrox Mystique? The large 40x40 icons are a bit annoying, and it makes the desktop appear as if it were running at 640x480 instead of 1024x768.

A -- There is not a way to change these easily, unfortunately.  Luckily there is a little program available on Hobbes called Small Fonts that should take care of your problem and make OS/2 much more pleasant to use at 1024x768.  I used it under Warp 3 and assume that it will still work with Warp 4, but I would advise using caution when trying it out.  The file can be found at:
               ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/util/system/smallf13.zip

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

               * * *

Q -- My problem is that my Minolta WinLaser printer has no driver for OS/2 Warp 4 or 3.  I have a driver for Windows 3.1x.  Can I make it work?

A -- Minolta's site doesn't admit to the existence of a "winlaser"; they have "PageWorks" printers,  The PageWorks 6 series are, however, "Win-printers": all processing is done on the host, with only Windows 3.1/95 (and not NT and OS/2) drivers available.  The other PageWorks printers are PCL5, and a LaserJet 4 driver should work with them.

                - (bsa@kf8nh.apk.net) Brandon S.  Allbery

               * * *

Tip --

Q -- I would like to remove all dos and win support from my Warp installation.  Do you know of a list of the files from the CONFIG.SYS that I can remove?  One of my friends said that he had done it once (or someone had for him) and the performance pickup was great.

A -- OK, the easiest way to do it is to go to Selective Uninstall and remove DOS/WIN-OS/2 support.  After that there may still be some DOS stuff in your CONFIG.SYS, but it probably won't load, it'll just give you errors.  You can also remove any .VDD references (I'd just REM them out for safety's sake).  Also, you can set PROTECTONLY=YES, which won't allow any VDM's (Virtual DOS Machines) to start; just remember that you'll need to set it to NO if you install any video drivers -- that's right, installing video drivers starts a VDM.  

As for performance benefits, a good rule when installing anything is to not install things you don't need.  In OS/2's case, don't install VoiceType and OpenDoc if you don't intend to use them, as both add a lot of overhead and create a performance hit.  Also, there are many things hanging around in a typical OS/2 CONFIG.SYS that most people never need.  Many of these deal with networking and DOS support, and some, like VDOSTCP.SYS and VDOSTCP.VDD, deal with both.  If you don't access TCP/IP sessions from DOS or WIN-OS/2, you can REM out these lines.

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

               * * *

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!

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

News from the OS/2 World	- by Ryan Dill

Greetings all, and welcome again to OS/2 e-Zine! 's monthly news update.  This column is designed to go over certain topics that e-Zine! 's own (http://www.os2ezine.com/news.htm) News Folder might have missed, or only glossed over.

We still believe our News Folder can't be beat when it comes to up-to-the-minute, accurate information, but it usually contains more "official" things like press releases and such.  This column will include a bit more detail about things we think are of interest to OS/2 users everywhere.  Grassroots support, off-the-record news and updates -- stuff that other sources may have missed -- you name it, we've got it!

               * * *

(http://www.innoval.com) InnoVal Systems Solutions, makers of the popular Post Road Mailer, have announced that the first beta of their Java version of Post Road should be available towards the end of January in 1998. The company hasn't yet decided how the beta testing program will be organized, and they're asking for user input. The options are as follows:

o  Have a closed beta program, only a select number of testers. (InnoVal have done well in the past with large numbers of beta testers, and a lot of people seem interested in the Java Post Road, so InnoVal doesn't like this option)

o  Have an open beta program; everyone who wants to can download and test the betas. (This option isn't great for InnoVal either, as too many people in the program would mean InnoVal might not be able to give beta testers prompt e-mail responses to bug reports, and would be stretched thin in terms of support)

o  A paid beta program; for a fee of about $40 US, members would receive password-protected ftp access to the latest builds, the release version (and all versions from 1.0 to 2.0) of Post Road for Java when it's finished, and possibly a devoted newsgroup or mailing list for beta program purposes. Owners of Post Road Mailer 3.0 are entitled to a 50% discount in this fee, and membership in the beta program would be first-come-first-served with only so many members allowed.

If you have any other options you think InnoVal might be interested in, or if you want to voice your opinion on which of the above methods is best, (innoval@ibm.net) e-mail InnoVal and let them know.

               * * *

(http://www.os2voice.org) VOICE, the Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education group, will be hosting a special IRC (Internet Relay Chat) session in channel #voice on Wednesday December 17th at 9PM EST (02:00 12/18/97 GMT). The session's special guest is (http://www.secant.com/sipples) Timothy Sipples of IBM's Networking Software Group, who will be talking about networking OS/2 in a home/SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) setting. According to VOICE: "This is your chance to ask an expert those burning questions you have about connecting your OS/2 boxes to one-another."

Note that VOICE's (http://www.os2voice.org/meetinginfo.html) regular IRC meeting is still on for 8PM EST, an hour before the special presentation. For more information about using IRC in OS/2, see (http://oeonline.com/~mandie1/irc_clients.html) the IRC page at Judy's Warped World.

               * * *

Those who use Epson printers under OS/2 have had a lot happening the past few weeks.  You may or may not know that (http://www.epson.de/) Epson Germany produces their own version of Epson printer drivers for OS/2, different from those shipped by default in Warp 4.  (OS/2's popularity in Germany has prompted many German companies to offer top-notch OS/2 support, Epson among them.)  The drivers produced by Epson Germany are slower than IBM's own drivers, but offer better printing at higher resolutions and support for more printers.

Since August, the drivers were freely available for download from Epson Germany's web site as the company prepared to have Epson in other countries (like Epson America) share in the cost of developing the drivers.  Around mid-November, Epson Germany removed the drivers from their web site, citing lack of demand from Epson's other subsidiaries and not enough money to maintain them for worldwide use themselves.  (Epson America, for example, seems completely uninterested in supporting these OS/2 drivers, or even spreading news of their existence.  Rumours suggest this may be due to anti-OS/2 pressure from developers of a certain non-OS/2 operating system.)  In the meantime, the drivers were posted to public FTP sites including (http://www.hobbes.nmsu.edu/) Hobbes in North America and (http://www.leo.org/) LEO in Germany.  The drivers were eventually removed from Hobbes, but (ftp://ftp.leo.org/pub/comp/os/os2/leo/drivers/printer/epson-os2drv.zip) Leo kept a copy.

Due to huge response from Epson users worldwide, Epson Germany has slightly reconsidered their position, and not only will they now offer the drivers for download again, but they've updated them. You can find both the previous version (v1.011) and the current version (v1.020) on Hobbes now, as (ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/incoming/epson_driver_v1011.zip) epson_driver_v1011.zip and (http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/incoming/epson_driver_v1020.zip) epson_driver_v1020.zip. (Once the drivers move out of the /incoming directory, search for the files by name). However, in the README file, the developers at Epson Germany state this update will be the last; development of OS/2 drivers from this point has been frozen. (By the way, IBM has recently updated its own OMNI drivers for Epson printers, which you can find (http://service.software.ibm.com/os2ddpak/html/printers/epsoname/index.htm) here)

Feel free to send a note to Epson Germany (such as the registration form in the driver package) to thank them for the updated drivers, and to encourage them to find a way that can continue to be developed.  Additionally, writing to Epson in other countries and requesting they help out rather than sitting on their hands would be a benefit.  Epson America's address is below, while those of other countries can be found at (http://www.epson.com) Epson's world map.

EPSON Deutschland GmbH
Zulpicher Strasse 6
40549 Dusseldorf
Germany
Ph.: (+49 211) 508 2700
Fx.: (+49 211) 504 7787

Epson America20770 Madrona Avenue, D1-04A
P.O. Box 2842, Torrance, CA, 90509-2842
USA
Ph.: 1-800-GO-EPSON
Fx.: 1-800-442-2007

               * * *

Some recent updates to OS/2 that users may be interested in:

o  Warp 4 FixPak 5 has been released for US English, UK English, Canadian French, regular French, German and Danish. It can be downloaded from IBM's (http://ps.boulder.ibm.com/pbin-usa-ps/getobj.pl?/pdocs-usa/softupd.html) Software Updates web page.

o  FixPak 5 also includes support for a new way of writing graphics drivers: GRADD (GRaphics Adapter Device Driver) drivers use an architecture which "...makes it easier to support new hardware as it becomes available.  Enhanced PM applications performance can be realized when using accelerated GRADD drivers." GRADD drivers are available for a number of cards now, including those from ATI, Matrox and S3. IBM offers the GRADD package as a (ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/drivers/video/graddbb.zip) separate package. Please note that, although public, these are still early version of the drivers and various bugs have been reported. Use them carefully.

o  IBM has released Java 1.1.4 for OS/2 since last month, as well as releasing the first series of public fixes for the package. You should download the (http://service.boulder.ibm.com/asd-bin/doc/en_us/java114/f-feat.htm) full Java package here and install whatever parts of it are desired, then download and install the (ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com/software/java/fixes/os2/11/) fixes by simply running them from the root directory of your Java drive.

o  TCP/IP 4.0x, the TCP/IP stack shipped with Warp 4, has been updated to version 4.02o. The update can be installed from the Web via IBM's (ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com/ps/products/tcpip/rsu/stack/latestv4.html) V4 Stack RSU page (Remote Services Update) or downloaded and installed manually.

o  TCP/IP 4.1x, IBM's commercial 32-bit TCP/IP stack for Warp 4, has just received its second public update. It too can be installed (http://service.software.ibm.com/pbin-usa-ps/getobj.pl?/pdocs-usa/latest41.html) via RSU or manually. Note that the v4.1 update requires a username and password to acquire; the above page includes a 1-800 number for TCP/IP v4.1 owners to call and get the required information.

               * * *

(http://www.gbar.dtu.dk/~c948129/) Cramon Utilities, makers of OS/2's popular B.U.G.S. arcade game, are sponsoring a B.U.G.S. high score competition, with Stardock software up for grabs as prizes.  The rules: simply play PlusPak: B.U.G.S. until your family and friends start telling you it's unhealthy, and that, "you should really get out more."  Once you feel you've come up with a respectable score, send your B.U.G.S. high scores (the BUGS.SCR file in your game directory) via e-mail to (ingo.guenther@netcologne.de) Ingo Guenther with the subject line 'Highscore Contest'.

A few other rules: only people using version 1.02 of the game are eligible to enter, and only one high score per person will be used.  (If you send in more than one, they'll only use the most recent one when they do the judging.)  Lastly, if your high scores haven't arrived via e-mail by January 1st of '98 (Whoops... '1998'; darn Year 2000 bugs!), then they won't be counted.

Now the important stuff -- the goodies.  The person with the highest high score will receive a copy of Stardock's (http://www.stardock.com/products/soft_fun/galciv2.html) Galactic Civilizations software v2.1, with a free upgrade to version 2.5 and a free copy of the Galactic Civilizations Expansion Pack.  The second-place winner will get a copy of Stardock's (http://www.stardock.com/products/tob/tob.html) Trials of Battle, and the person with the third highest score will win a copy of Stardock's (http://www.stardock.com/products/plus/plus.html#Themes) PlusPak: Themes to spice up their Desktop.

The top ten high scores for each difficulty level will become the scores in the default B.U.G.S. high score file, and the top ten entries from the 'Elite' difficulty level will also be added to the PlusPak: B.U.G.S 'Hall of Fame'.  If you've always thought you were pretty good at PlusPak: B.U.G.S., now's your chance to prove it.

               * * *

That's it for this month.  If you have a tip that you want followed up or a news item you think should be reported, don't hesitate to (feedback@os2ezine.com) let us know!

               * * *

(dill@os2ezine.com) Ryan Dill is a student in Computer Science at Acadia University in Wolfville, NS and OS/2 e-Zine! 's Technical Editor.  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.

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

the REXX Files	- by Dr.  Dirk Terrell

Sorting a list of numbers is a subject that has been studied extensively over the years.  There are many different algorithms that have been  developed, but none of them are always better than any of the others.  Since  sorting is a common task, I thought we'd look at some sorting algorithms implemented in REXX.  In this article we'll look what is probably the  simplest algorithm, the bubble sort, and another one that is a bit more efficient called the straight insertion method.  In later articles, we'll look at some other algorithms that are generally much more efficient.

The first thing we need to take care of is generating some random numbers to  be sorted.  The REXX function RANDOM() generates (pseudo) random numbers.  The calling form is

     random_number=RANDOM(start,end,seed) 

where start and end are the beginning and end of the  range of possible random numbers, and seed is a seed value for the random number generator.  RANDOM(1,10) would return a random number between 1 and 10.  For a given seed value, the same sequence of random number is returned when RANDOM is called with the seed the first time and without a seed value thereafter.  All of the parameters are  optional.  If you specify a single number, the function returns a random number between 0 and that number.  If you specify no numbers, the default range of 0 to 999 is used.  (Note than this function returns whole numbers.  If you need random floating-point numbers, you will have to divide the result by an appropriate value.)

Let's have our program take a number on the command line that tells the program how many numbers we want to sort.  And let's prompt the user for that value if it isn't entered.  Here is the code to do this:

/* Sorting Program */
Parse Arg N
If N="" then Do /* User didn't enter the number of items to sort */
   Say "How many numbers to sort?"
   Parse Pull N
end /* do */

/* Generate some random numbers */
Do i=1 to N
   x.i=Random(0,N) /* Generate random numbers and save in a stem variable */
   x2.i=x.i        /* Save a copy of the random numbers for the later sorts */
end /* do */
x.0=N              /* Set the 0 index equal to the number of items */

Now that we have a set of random numbers, we are ready to sort them.  The bubble sort is a very simple sorting algorithm, but it is not very efficient.  For N items, it typically requires of order NxN comparisons.  For small N, that is not too bad, but  as N grows large, the algorithm becomes impractical as you can see by experimenting with the program we are writing.

The bubble sort works by looping through the list of items, comparing successive pairs.  If they are out of order, they are reversed.  The loop is repeated until no exchanges have been made, meaning that the list is sorted.  The algorithm is therefore very simple, but the price of that simplicity is very poor efficiency as you will see.  Here is the code that performs the bubble sort, written as a subroutine that can be called from within the main program:

BubbleSort:
Procedure Expose x.
start=Time("R") /* Start the timer */
do i=x.0 to 1 by -1 until sorted=1
  sorted=1 /* Assume the items are sorted */
  do j=2 to i
    m =j-1
    if x.m>x.j then /* If the items are out of order, swap them */
    do
      a=x.m
      x.m=x.j
      x.j=x
      sorted=0  /* We swapped two items, so we're not sorted yet */
    end /* do */
  end /* do */
end /* do */
end=time("R") /* Stop the timer */
elapsed=end-start
Return elapsed /* Return the elapsed time */

This routine implements the bubble sort algorithm, but also adds the nice touch of returning the elapsed time during the sorting for comparison to other algorithms.  One thing about the routine that deserves some explanation is the use of the  PROCEDURE statement.  Use this when you want the variables of the routine to be hidden from the rest of the program.  You can allow other parts of the program to  see specific variables, though, by using the EXPOSE statement as we do here with the variable x., the stem that contains the items to be sorted.  To sort the items, we just call the bubble sort routine like this:

     elapsed_time=BubbleSort()

The straight insertion algorithm is a bit more efficient than the bubble sort algorithm.   This algorithm is frequently used by card players to sort a deck.  You start with the second card and compare it to the first.  Then you take the third card and compare it to the first two, then the fourth compared to the first three, and so on.  Here is the REXX code to perform a straight insertion sort:

InsertionSort:
Procedure Expose x.
start=Time("R")
Do i=1 to x.0-1
   Do j=i+1 to x.0
      If x.j<x.i then  Do
         a=x.i
         x.i=x.j
         x.j=a
      end /* do */
   end /* do */
end /* do */
end=time("R")
elapsed=end-start
Return elapsed

Finally, let's look at a slight variant of the straight insertion.  This method works by finding the smallest item in the list and moving it to the front each time through the main loop.  This one is, like the others, fairly simple, but in most cases a little more efficient, usually several times faster than the bubble sort.  Here is the code:

ModifiedInsertionSort:
start=Time("R")
Do i=1 to x.0
   m=x.i
   k=i
   do j=i+1 to x.0
      if x.j<m then do /* Find the smallest number and */
         m=x.j         /* store the value and the index.  */
         k=j
      end
   end /* do */
   a=x.i   /* Move the smallest item to the front */
   x.i=m
   x.k=a
end /* do */
end=time("R")
elapsed=end-start
Return elapsed

These routines are not bad for small numbers of items.  They are very simple and easy to code up compared to some more sophisticated algorithms.  For large numbers of items, though, their performance is usually quite poor because they all require of order NxN comparisons (so-called N-squared algorithms).  Other algorithms scale better with  increasing numbers of items, but we pay for improved efficiency with more complicated code.

We'll look some of these more sophisticated techniques next time.  Until then, have  fun playing around with the sample code below and seeing if you can come up with more efficient sorting algorithms.

               * * *

(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.

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

/* Sorting using N-squared algorithms */
Parse Arg N
If N="" then Do
   Say "How many numbers to sort?"
   Parse Pull N
end /* do */

/* Generate some random numbers */
Do i=1 to N
   x.i=Random(0,N)
   x2.i=x.i
end /* do */
x.0=N
/* Call the bubble sort routine */
elapsed=BubbleSort()
Say "Bubble sort took" elapsed "seconds."
Call ResetItems

/* Call the straight insertion sort routine */
elapsed=InsertionSort()
Say "Insertion sort took" elapsed "seconds."
Call ResetItems

/* Call the modified insertion sort routine */
elapsed=ModifiedInsertionSort()
Say "Modified insertion sort took" elapsed "seconds."
Exit

BubbleSort:
Procedure Expose x.
start=Time("R")
do i = x.0 to 1 by -1 until sorted = 1
  sorted = 1
  do j = 2 to i
    m = j - 1
    if x.m > x.j then
    do
      a=x.m
      x.m=x.j
      x.j=x
      sorted=0
    end /* do */
  end /* do */
end /* do */
end=time("R")
elapsed=end-start
Return elapsed

InsertionSort:
Procedure Expose x.
start=Time("R")
Do i=1 to x.0-1
   Do j=i+1 to x.0
      If x.j<x.i then  Do
         a=x.i
         x.i=x.j
         x.j=a
      end /* do */
   end /* do */
end /* do */
end=time("R")
elapsed=end-start

Return elapsed

ModifiedInsertionSort:
start=Time("R")
Do i=1 to x.0
   m=x.i
   k=i
   do j=i+1 to x.0
      if x.j<m then do 
         m=x.j
         k=j
      end
   end /* do */
   a=x.i
   x.i=m
   x.k=a
end /* do */
end=time("R")
elapsed=end-start
Return elapsed

ResetItems: /* Resets the sorted items to their scrambled state */
Procedure Expose x. x2. 
do i=1 to x.0
   x.i=x2.i
end /* do */

Return

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

Personal Information Managers for OS/2	- by Chris Wenham

They're usually known as PIMs, or Personal Information Managers.  Sometimes they're called Time Management software, and others just refer to them as electronic Rolodexes or computer diaries.  They help keep our acts together by reminding us of important items, tracking our address books and contacts, and sorting out our list of things ToDo.  

OS/2 users are fortunate to have several high-quality options to choose from in this category.  One is a long-standing, time tested veteran of the Warp arena, going back to the good old days when OS/2 still looked a bit like Windows 3.0.  Another is a freebie, written mostly as a demo of OS/2's Workplace Shell capabilities.  And a third is a big "granddaddy" PIM ported over from Windows95. In addition to the above, we've also reviewed a PIM you may already have installed -- it's the one that came with IBM Works in the Warp BonusPak.  

Plus, unavailable for full review this month, is a newcomer called Think Tool Pro.  The makers of Think Tool, Phoenix Software, tell us that it's not just a PIM but a fully object-oriented database too.  See our sidebar, "The Best Yet To Come?" for more information and screenshots.  

What's Best for You?

During our evaluation of these products we found that no single PIM is an ideal "one size fits all" solution.  

Organizer, when it ships (or if you can live with prerelease code) is the best PIM for day-to-day needs.  However, it places a high load on your computer with its big RAM requirements and slow-to-repaint screen decorations. Relish, our Editor's Choice, is much smaller and underfeatured in comparison.  But it's fast, shipping now, and has much better desktop integration.  Relish can also be enhanced with a new product called Relish Web (not reviewed here) which can publish your phone book and calendar to the web. But if all you're interested in is a cheap, simple ToDo list, address book or Calendar without too many bells n' whistles, try either ExCal or the IBM Works PIM.  Both are free (with the latter included in the Warp 3 and Warp 4 BonusPaks) and do their jobs elegantly.


The Best Yet To Come?

One new Personal Information Manager we were unable to review this month is Think Tool Pro from Phoenix Software.  A preview version was unavailable for evaluation at the time of writing (OS/2 e-Zine! hopes to have a full review available in a future issue), but Phoenix has supplied us with some information and screenshots of their new product.  

Designed to be used by end-users, Think Tool Pro is both an object oriented database and PIM with graphical file management tools built in.  The developers stress that this is not just a PIM, but a fully featured object database too.  In fact, the PIM is an optional part of the integrated product.  

Think Tool Pro doesn't require programming for either the PIM or the Database, and for this reason the makers claim it will be easy to use and configure.  But despite this, Phoenix claim it will have powerful search (query), report creation and other typical database capabilities built-in.  

Being an Object Oriented database, Phoenix say you will be able to store any multimedia data type you wish -- such as text, images, sound and video -- without any of the programming or mapping layers other "Object Relational" databases such as Oracle 8 require.

Highlights of Think Tool Pro's PIM capabilities include:

o  Calendar 
o  Planner 
o  "to-do" list 
o  Alarms 
o  Contact list 
o  Phone dialer 
o  Phone call log 
o  Keller FaxWorks interoperability 
o  IBM Works interoperability 
o  Address label creation 
o  Extensive and flexible data linking and organizing
   capabilities 
o  Customizable graphical user interface without programming 
o  Customizable WYSIWYG report creation 
o  Point-and-click and fill-in-the-blank search and filter
   tools 
o  Password and encryption security 

In short, Think Tool Pro looks like a promising addition to both the PIM and database categories.  Look for our full review in an upcoming issue of OS/2 e-Zine!


Editor's Choice: Relish

This was a tough match between Lotus Organizer and Relish from Sundial Systems.  But since Organizer was still in Beta testing at the time of review, we could not seriously consider it for an Editor's Choice award.  However, that doesn't mean Relish is all that bad either.  <g>  While its visual appeal is low, Relish is an excellent all-round calendar, phone book and scheduler.  For complete details, click the 'next' button below product reviews.

               * * *

(http://www.spectra.net/~fox/) Chris Wenham is a freelance web designer, writer and Englishman who now lives in Endicott, NY.  In the past he has written comedy, sci-fi, Pascal, Rexx, HTML and Gibberish.  He has been using OS/2 exclusively for the past 2 years.

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

ExCal	- by Chris Wenham

EWS stands for Employee Written Software, and is a treasure-trove of free utilities and programs written by various IBM employees for OS/2 users.  One of the best is ExCal, a remarkably simple and elegant PIM that exists entirely as an extension to the Workplace Shell.  An ".EXE-less" program, it may be perfect for someone who's in need of just a simple To-Do, Calendar and Address book.

Installation

Once you've downloaded and unzipped ExCal, you need to copy the excal.dll file into a directory that's somewhere in your LIBPATH (such as C:\OS2\DLL,) then run the included install program which will create an ExCal folder on your desktop and populate it with a few starter-objects.  

User Interface and Features

Since ExCal works by extending OS/2's folder class, opening the Calendar, ToDo list or Address book is simply like opening a regular desktop folder -- because that's exactly what they are.  The only difference, of course, is their appearance.

Calendar

Calendar view will give you a split window with a monthly grid on the left hand side and a details view on the right.  You can flip through the months and years with a roll-bar at the top of the left side, or jump to a specific day of the month by double-clicking on its square.  The right side will then display a list of all meetings, appointments and alarms scheduled for that day.  Rescheduling an appointment for a different day is simply a matter of drag-n-dropping it onto a different square.  Unfortunately it doesn't have a drag-n-drop method for rescheduling the time of day, like Relish can.  But it does have a convenient selection of preset times in half-hour intervals accessible through the right-click menu over the appointment's object, for quick rescheduling.

To create a note or appointment, ExCal has a set of predefined templates such as High, Medium High, Medium and Low priority notes for your ToDo list.  It also has Vacation, Class, Meeting, Travel, Phone-Call, etc.  for appointments.  You can either drag-n-drop these templates from ExCal's templates folder (separate from Warp's regular templates folder), or right-click somewhere in an ExCal folder and pick 'Create for today' from the menu -- it will display a drop-down menu of all templates it has found in ExCal's templates folder.  So, if you created your own templates and put them here, they'd show up in the right-click menu too.  

Editing an appointment once created is very easy and everything is presented for you in a convenient tabbed notebook.  From the first page you can set the title and a summary, pick the location, time, and set an alarm to go off in advance.  Other pages can display more detailed information on time, repeating events, location, attachments and alarms.

Some interesting points can be made here.  The 'location' of a note or appointment is not linked to ExCal's address book like it is in Relish.  You can create and customize locations, such as "home," "Favorite Place," "Office," and "Classroom" and put them in ExCal's locations folder.  The contents of this folder, like with templates, is scanned by ExCal and conveniently loaded into a number of context-sensitive "right-click" menus spread throughout the PIM.  

Another convenient feature is the Attachments tab of an appointment's notebook.  There are two areas, one called "Attachments" and another called "Launch on Alarm"  -- which is pretty self explanatory.  You can drag-n-drop any Desktop object you want into these areas, such as a document, program or folder.  This goes above what Relish and Organizer can do, since both of these programs need a full pathname to an executable file (.EXE or .CMD) before they can launch any window on an alarm.  With ExCal you could drag a shadow of the shredder into an attachment area...  if...  you should happen to have a reason for doing that.

Address Book

ExCal has a convenient, alphabetically tabbed notebook folder for storing addresses in.  It provides enough spaces to enter a single address, as many phone numbers as you want, and some notes.  It cannot, however, separate home and work addresses.  Nor does it provide any phone-dialing mechanism like Relish and Organizer do.  ExCal does not have any "Grouping" functions like Relish does either, but it is possible to make multiple address books (right click on the object and pick "create another" from the pop-up menu) and sort groups of addresses that way.

Advantages of WPS integration

While testing ExCal I found some interesting and beneficial side-effects of its deep WPS integration.  For a start, you can drag your ToDo list or Address Book into a WarpCenter tray and instantly have a real-time-updated, drop-down list of your items -- all thanks to the fact that the ToDo list is just a subclass of a regular folder.  It's also possible to drag-n-drop objects that aren't from ExCal's templates into your calendar, such as documents or folders of projects due on certain days.  

If you need to separate calendars and address-books for different people who use the same machine, you can do so easily by using the "Create another" option in each object's right-click menu.  You can then selectively share elements too, such as an address book, set of locations or templates.  

Disadvantages

Unfortunately ExCal is probably not suited for the serious user.  ExCal can't dial the phone, it can't print anything -- not even a ToDo list or address from your address-book, and it does not have any mechanism for making backups of your data.  This last point is very serious, since your ExCal notes are at the mercy of a Desktop crash, "forgetfulness" that may come from restoring your desktop from an earlier archive, or a complete wipe out should you need to reinstall OS/2.  ExCal also hasn't been updated since mid 1995, and we don't know if the authors plan to improve it further.

I found that there is a work-around for the backup problem.  If you own Stardock's Object Desktop 1.5 you can back up all of your appointments, address books and ToDo lists safely with an Object Package.

I'm also willing to entertain the idea that an enterprising Rexx programmer may be able to come up with some means of printing ExCal notes or dialing Address-book entries.  ExCal comes with documentation for its Rexx Interface (primarily designed for creating ExCal objects -- such as with its example Rexx install script).  But it's really not a project I'd recommend for casual users.

This is a shame, really, because ExCal seems like such a good little PIM.  

Summary

ExCal should be praised for its elegance and simplicity, it's small and more tightly integrated into the Workplace Shell than any other PIM reviewed here.  It is, however, very underfeatured, cannot print, and has no means for making a backup of your appointments and address-book without resorting to third party utilities.

But ExCal is superb and stuffed with "neat gadget appeal." If you're only looking for a simple ToDo list, basic address book and calendar for occasional use -- try it.  You'll probably like it better than the more expensive packages.

               * * *

ExCal 3.0
     by Dan Kehn and Diana Soost (IBM EWS)
     download from the (http://www.os2ss.com/archives/hobbes/os2/apps/pim/excal.zip) OS/2 Supersite (ZIP, 480k)
     Registration: Freeware

(http://www.spectra.net/~fox/) Chris Wenham is a freelance web designer, writer and Englishman who now lives in Endicott, NY.  In the past he has written comedy, sci-fi, Pascal, Rexx, HTML and Gibberish.  He has been using OS/2 exclusively for the past 2 years.

***********************************
IBM Works PIM	- by Christopher B. Wright

Both versions of OS/2 Warp (3.0 and 4.0) come with a complete office suite and PIM package called IBM Works.  Though lightweight compared to the latest and greatest products, the PIM included with OS/2 Warp is functional, and probably about as much as most people need.

It is not, however, anything like the more commonly found PIMs on the market today.  Its user interface is quirky and a bit basic; instead of combining all the features into a seamless package it divides them into smaller applications, and by today's standards it feels a bit crude -- sort of like moving from a computer word processor back to a typewriter-based word processor.  If all you're doing is typing  a letter, both will work fine -- indeed, there are circumstances where the typewriter-based word processor would work a little better -- but it still doesn't feel right.

PIM Pieces

The IBM Works PIM isn't, as most PIMs are, one complete program.  Instead, it is six individual programs designed to work together.  IBM Works PIM includes an Appointments Calendar, a Notepad, a Phone/Address Book, a Daily Planner, a "To-Do" List, and a Yearly Calendar.  Each of these applications can be used independently, or in conjunction with each other.  Indeed, its often possible to launch one application from within another, and many of the applications share information when it's relevant.

The specific parts of the IBM Works PIM are detailed below.

Appointments Book

Unlike many appointment book programs, which borrow the DayRunner look of an entire page devoted to an entire day, separated into hours and half hours to keep track of what appointments fall where, the Appointments book looks more like a weekly ledger, with a white rectangle under each day of the week containing the various appointments of the day.

Double-clicking on the white area will open a dialog box that will allow you to specify what your appointment is, when it occurs, and how long it will last.  When you are finished, you press "OK" and you will return to the Appointment Ledger (which now displays your appointment).

If the information changes or is no longer relevant, simply highlight it and right-click on it.  You will given, among other options, the chance to edit or delete your entry.

This is a very functional approach towards keeping track of appointments, but it doesn't give you quite as clear a visual clue of when things fall in a particular day as the popular method (the DayRunner look) does.

Event Monitor

The Event Monitor keeps track of whatever alarms and reminders you have set in your PIM.

Notepad

The notepad is a place where you can store various miscellaneous pieces of information, ideas you've been kicking around, whatever doesn't seem to fit anywhere else.  I like the way the notepad is set up -- when you open it, it takes you to a Table of Contents that lists the titles of the different notes you have stored in there.  Double-clicking on the Table of Contents will take you to a dialog box where you can enter a title and some other information about your note.  Double-clicking on a note title will take you to the body of the note, where you can either edit or key in whatever information you wish to  put in there.

The Table of Contents doesn't seem to have any sorting capabilities -- it will only display the titles in the order in which they were created, not alphabetically -- so it would be a bit difficult to find specific entries if there were a great many to choose from.  There is a search facility included, however, so if you remember enough of the title you'll probably be able to track it down..

Phone/Address Book

A staple feature of any PIM, the phone/address book for IBM Works is a bit cumbersome to use.

The Phone/Address Book's main screen is a list of all numbers and addresses stored in the application.  The lettered tabs at the top of the window allow you to jump to the first entry bearing whichever letter you choose, and you can double-click on any name to see all its information.  If you have a new entry, you can either double-click on a white space on the screen or you can right-click and choose New... from the menu.

Entering information is fairly self explanatory, but awkward at times.  All the fields (Name, Address, Country, Company) are clearly marked, but the fields are spread across several different tabs in a settings notebook, which makes it difficult if you are a touch-typist (as I am) or if you have a lot of information to enter.

A nice feature of the Phone/Address book are the 10 user custom fields that you can use for any purpose you wish--handy for storing e-mail accounts, web sites, customer numbers, and the like.

You can also use this application to log incoming and outgoing calls -- and you can dial those calls as well (if you have a properly configured modem).  This is a feature that would be more useful in the world of business, where such things are tracked and billed on a regular basis.

Planner

The Daily Planner and the Appointments application look like their GUIs were switched around; the Planner uses the standard "Appointment" interface, and the Appointment app looks more like a traditional Daily Planner.  With the Daily Planner, you can set aside blocks of time for activities, and can determine what day, when and for how long such activities will be performed.

Double-clicking on a grid block on the screen opens a dialog box with various settings and information fields.  You can enter in when the event occurs, give it a title, a time span (start to finish), whether or not this is an item on the "To-Do" list (described below), whether or not to notify you via alarm (and when to do so), and more.  When you're finished entering in your information, the time you set aside is marked off as a dark block on that day's column.  By pressing the mouse button down while the pointer is in that block, the time and title of the event will "pop up" on the screen.

The biggest problem with this is that you couldn't by default see, at a glance, what the activity is -- you have to press down on the mouse button to see each one individually.  This can be difficult when you're trying to plan for an entire week's worth of work (or play).

To Do List

Double-clicking on the To-Do List causes two things to happen: first, it launches the To-Do-List launcher, a to-do list "command center" that allows you to create more to-do lists.  Second, it launches a to-do list for whatever the day happens to be. Adding to-do list items is very simple: simply double-click on any white space and fill in the information relevant to your task.  The to-do lists are ranked by items of importance, so items that you designate "more important" will be shown first, and items ranked "less important" will be addressed further down the list.

The To-Do list has the obvious use of listing what you need to get done and by when.  The To-Do list launcher also has some interesting uses: for example, if you right click on any day on the calendar, you can elect to open up any of the other PIM programs (such as the Planner or Appointment book) displaying that day.  You can also use it to set holidays and other major events.

Year Calendar

The year calendar is a full year's calendar in one window, January through December.  It will display all the days of that year at a glance.  You can use it in much the same way as the To-Do List launcher: you can launch applications to a specific day of the year, for example (so when they make the announcement of the next Warpstock you'll have plenty of time to prepare!)

Usability

The IBM Works PIM is a basic but functional program.  Don't expect any high-end features (like being able to sync up with a Palm Pilot), and if you're running a large business you may find it inadequate for many of your needs.  But IBM Works PIM does what it was designed to do fairly well, and it will keep track of all the basics -- appointments, to-do lists, holidays, phone numbers, random ideas and notes -- more than adequately.

Final Evaluation

The IBM Works PIM will work just fine for most people.  It does what it was designed to do, and although the interface can be awkward it performs reliably and rather quickly.  The reliability and usefulness of the program, combined with the fact that it's absolutely free, more than overcomes its quirkiness.

If you rely on your PIM 24 hours a day, however, you may find the interface too frustrating to use.  And if you have a PDA like I do (I have a Palm Pilot) then you are out of luck -- the IBM Works PIM will not link to anything.  Be prepared to maintain two separate phone lists (an annoyance in and of itself).

               * * *

IBM Works PIM
     by (http://www.ibm.com/) IBM
     MSRP: Free with OS/2

(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.

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

SmartSuite Organizer Beta	- by Chris Wenham

Now that a full port of Lotus SmartSuite is here we finally get the chance to try its acclaimed time and personal information management software: Organizer.  This is a very visually appealing and "grown up" PIM that can do everything from manage your address book to help you plan out time for lengthy projects.  It is, however, a beast on your computer's resources and (typical as Windows ports go) has no real integration with the rest of the OS/2 desktop.  

Installation and Packaging

Organizer for OS/2 must be installed as part of Lotus SmartSuite.  According to Lotus it will not be available as a separate product, but you could at least narrow down Organizer as the only component of the office suite you wished to install, should you not be interested in the other components.  At the time of review, the Beta of Organizer could be downloaded separately as long as you were willing to download about 30 megabytes of files.  The installation program, which comprised 22 megs alone, was filled up with a lot of code and files common to all components of the suite (such as spell checkers, fonts etc.) 

This really puts Organizer at a disadvantage if you already own a word processor, spreadsheet, database etc.  and do not wish to purchase the entire Lotus SmartSuite.  It would also hinder you greatly if you did not want to install FixPak 5 or higher, since Organizer requires the Open32 enhancements that come with that FixPak.  

User Interface and Features

Organizer is designed to visually look like one of those leather-bound, paper-based organizers you buy at the local office supply store.  It has screen elements for the binder rings, a front and back cover (customizable), and little 'paper curls' at the corners.  It also comes with a set of cute papery sound effects that play a "Ssssslick!" whenever you turn the page, or a satisfying "Klumph!" of collapsing paper whenever you flip back and forth between major sections.  It's a very well polished application indeed.  

The calendar section can be divided into daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly views.  Plus it can show through entries from other sections such as the ToDo list, Planner and Anniversaries.  

To its credit, Organizer beats the rest for sheer range of features.  One that I found most useful indeed was the planner, where you're given a whole sheet representing a year and can mark out blocks of time, sometimes spanning whole weeks or days, in color coded strips.  If you have a complicated project ahead of you this would be invaluable for setting aside time to work on each stage.  The strips are easily movable and re-sizable, plus they show through on the Calendar section right underneath your ToDo items and above your daily appointments.  

The address book is also well thought out and presented, with plenty of space and fields to enter a friend or associate's address, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and notes.  The summaries are then neatly arranged visually like index cards, with tabs for quickly glancing at home or business addresses as well as jumping through alphabetical sections.  And like Relish, Organizer's address-book is linked with other sections such as the calendar -- you can schedule a phone call and quickly pick the name or company you want from a drop-down list.  

Creating Appointments

Organizer will let you schedule an appointment with a double-click on the day or time it occurs.  In the dialog for configuring the appointment you will find a number of useful toys, such as a 'Find time' button that will step through blocks of time -- taking into consideration other appointments and the duration you've specified -- until you get to an agreeable slot.  Great for anyone busy who doesn't want to scrutinize their schedule to find a 45 minute slot in a packed workday.  You can set an alarm for your appointment too, pick from a number of alarm tunes to play when it's due, and launch an application with it if you so choose.

However, Organizer does not have any mechanism for triggering alarms when the program itself is not already running.  This is frustrating, since SmartSuite will install a "Quickstart" program in your Startup folder to launch in the background whenever you boot your computer (presumably to keep some common libraries of code in 'cache' and help SmartSuite's components load faster when you need them).  I don't know why Lotus couldn't have used this Quickstart program to also monitor your Organizer alarms.  This is a feature both ExCal and Relish have and which I find immeasurably useful should I not want the whole program loaded and sitting in memory just to remind me of appointments.  

Drag, Drop, and desktop integration

Organizer has rudimentary drag-n-drop capabilities, but nothing that even holds a candle to Relish.  Remembering to use the left mouse button instead of the right, you can drag-n-drop appointments to new calendar days to reschedule them, but you may need to flip between calendar views before you can accomplish this.  There's no way to drag-and-drop an appointment beyond the month it's already in, no way to drag a date or time to a type of appointment (phone call, meeting, etc.), and no way to drag an appointment to the desktop to create a summary file.  

In Organizer, it's as if nothing existed beyond its own window, I couldn't find a trace of Desktop integration at all.  It even has its own trashcan icon taking up space in the corner of the window, something I felt was redundant and wasteful considering that OS/2's own Shredder icon could have been used for the same task if only Organizer would recognize it.  

Even worse was the fact that Organizer doesn't seem to have any kind of 'mini' view like Relish.  With all of its visual decorations it takes up a lot of screen estate, so it's not really practical to have it sitting in a corner of your desktop for quick consultation.  

Performance

Organizer is a hog, folks.  Even on a K6-200 with 32-megs of RAM I could feel the impact of Organizer's presence.  My, does it love the swap file.  Bear this in mind when you select a PIM, since in likelihood you'll want it open all the time as you work.  You may choose to switch off sound effects and animations if you want a little performance boost, but that certainly won't help it coexist with other applications very well unless your RAM endowment is greater than mine.  

It should be noted that at the time of writing Organizer is still in Beta and may be yet to enter any serious performance work from Lotus.  Considering its sheer size, though, I seriously doubt it's realistic to expect Organizer to start working at the performance levels of Relish or ExCal, even after the Beta period is over and the 'Gold' version becomes available.  

Summary

Organizer is a "Grand Daddy" class PIM with a lot of polish and professional shine.  It's the only one that seriously compares with the likes of Day-Timer, Ecco Pro and other veteran PIMs from the Windows arena.  It's luxurious, and covers all of the bases very well.  

We were very disappointed to learn that Organizer will not have the ability to transfer data between popular PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) devices such as 3COM's PalmPilot, IBM's Workpad (IBM's co-branded version of the PalmPilot) or Texas Instruments' new Avigo.  However, even in the Windows version of Organizer, the actual interfacing with the PDA is performed by a third party application.  We'd be eager to see if the same third party or some other company would be willing to make an OS/2 version of this program.  It may also be possible to use this utility in a Win-OS/2 session, although we haven't confirmed this.

               * * *

SmartSuite Organizer
     by (http://www.lotus.com/) Lotus Development Corp.
     MSRP: Not Yet Released

(http://www.spectra.net/~fox/) Chris Wenham is a freelance web designer, writer and Englishman who now lives in Endicott, NY.   In the past he has written comedy, sci-fi, Pascal, Rexx, HTML and Gibberish.   He has been using OS/2 exclusively for the past 2 years.

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

Relish v2.2	- by Chris Wenham

Relish will impress you as a fast, user-friendly and remarkably well drag-n-drop-enhanced time management program for OS/2.  Within the first half hour of tinkering I was repeatedly surprised with its speed, features, and tight integration with the rest of the Warp desktop.  

Installation and Packaging

To install Relish is straightforward and easy.  The program comes on two floppy disks and includes an install utility.  You will be asked if you wish to add a program to your computer's STARTUP.CMD script to automatically start a monitoring program every time you boot your computer.  This program will run in the background and monitor scheduled appointments and alarms for you, popping up reminder dialogs even if Relish itself is not already running.  

You might have to edit your STARTUP.CMD script afterwards, though, and add an 'exit' command to the end of it.  Since the one Relish creates will not close its window automatically after your computer finishes booting.  

Support is available through its thickly bound user manual, complete with walkthroughs and definitions of terms.  Or via phone/fax or e-mail contact with its developers at Sundial.  

User Interface and Features

Relish has an interface you'll love, provided you can get over its looks.  It's drag-n-drop everywhere, with behavior that matches OS/2's desktop.  This was a refreshing change from Lotus Organizer's one-mouse-button mentality.  It was very easy to get acquainted with Relish within the first 30 minutes of use.  

But it's also the ugliest duckling of the PIMs we examined for this month's issue.  Not much attention was paid to visual appeal with Relish; it's default "blues" color scheme will probably contrast with Warp's default and conservative one, plus many of the icons used throughout its palettes and toolbars look kind of cheap.  No points for aesthetics, but at least you can drag-n-drop replacement colors from Warp's floating palettes.  

Address/Phone Book

The address book, or in Relish the phone book, is unfortunately rather weak for keeping contact information.  It doesn't have space or slots for entering much more than the name, phone number address and one-line remark about the person you're adding.  There's no way to separate home and business addresses and no slot for an e-mail address.  There's also no obvious way of distinguishing home and business phone numbers, but Relish is smart and can tell there are two numbers in the line "Home:(562)-555-1212; Work(714)-555-ABCD." Select this phone book entry when it comes time to dial and Relish will provide you with a list to pick from.  Relish can also translate the letters "ABCD" into their equivalent keypad numbers.  

Spartan as the phone book may be, it is conveniently linked to dialogs for entering appointments and ToDo items, etc.  Where Lotus Organizer only links the address book to a "Phone Call" appointment type, Relish will let you pop-up your phone book and select a name wherever you see a "Who:" label anywhere.  For example, in an appointment, or a meeting, or a ToDo item, or wherever.  Relish will automatically fill out any relevant labels with whatever it finds in the phone book.  So the "Where" part of an appointment is filled out with the person's address, for example.  

Calendar

Relish is very good at keeping track of your appointments, and with the help of Buns (discussed later) can present them in a variety of different views.  Actually scheduling something is dirt-easy too and is usually either a case of drag-n-drop or double-click.  It's organized to accommodate whatever mode of thinking the user prefers.  Some think of "when" first, and "what" second -- so for them they can drag-n-drop a date or time to an appointment type.  Others might think of "what" to do first, and "when" to do it second -- so for them they can drag an appointment type onto a date or time.  This is interesting to note: You can actually point to a time on the scale and drag-n-drop it anywhere you like -- to a date, to an appointment template, to the desktop, anywhere.

While entering the time for an appointment, a graduated scale at the top of the dialog lets you swipe a block of time with the mouse, or just point-and-click the begin and end times.  By default, Relish will assign an alarm to each note -- you don't have to explicitly tell it to do so, like in Organizer.  You can then set the alarm to go off in advance of the appointment, like five or ten minutes.  

Relish uses six different categories for notes.  They are; Appointment, Meeting, General note, Phone call, Run an OS/2 program, and ToDo.  Each category has a slightly different arrangement when it comes to entering details.  For example, Appointment and Meeting notes are primarily concerned with "Who" and "Where" the appointment will be with, while a ToDo note is more concerned with priority and who it's assigned to.  A "Run program" note obviously doesn't care about any "whos" or "wheres," it just gives you a space to enter the path of a program to start.  

Rescheduling notes is just another drag-n-drop operation and is remarkably easy.  If you wish to reschedule the date, just drag-n-drop the note onto the new date in the calendar -- flipping backwards and forwards through months and years first if necessary.  You can also reschedule the time just by drag-n-dropping the note onto the time-scale just above the summary window.  I found this much more flexible than Organizer, which usually required you to go and edit a dialog box if the target of your drag-n-drop operation wasn't on the same page.  

If you drag a note onto the desktop it will create a text file with a full summary of the appointment.  This may be useful if you wish to insert it into a newsletter you're composing in a word processor.  You can also drag-n-drop any note to OS/2's shredder and instantly delete it.

Groups

Relish is also very good at letting you group together notes and phone-book entries.  You can create your own groups like "Personal," "Business," "Vacation," for notes and "Friends," "Contacts," "Employees" for phone-book entries.  You can then restrict your view of notes into only those of a specific group.  This grouping ability, combined with Buns (described below) make it very easy to keep your notes separate from another users' (if two or more people are using the same machine,) or separate from project-to-project.

Buns

New in version 2.2 is a means of putting together customized views of your Relish data into packages Sundial calls "Buns".  These buns are part of Relish's further desktop integration and can be used to store any range of preferences from views, colors, fonts, positions, and icon-bar choices.  Relish gives you five predefined Buns and a template for creating more.  They also give you a stock of icons to use with the ones you make yourself.  

While the name is a bit silly (Relish...  buns...  burgers...  get it?) it can actually be quite useful, since they save you a lot of messing around with menus and configurations when you already know what view you want.  Click...  boom -- it's open.  

The default Buns themselves are as follow; Daily, Weekly, Monthly, To Do, Overdue, Phone-book, and Floating Notes.  Being examples they all have slightly different color schemes and window arrangements.  But as mentioned above, they come into their own when you combine them with grouping of notes.  A custom bun can be made which shows a weekly schedule of, say, your Vacation -- and only notes relating to your vacation.  Customize another bun and you could have a monthly view of business appointments, all listed separately from personal ones.

Type To Search

Type-To-Search is extremely convenient and does just what it says.  Start typing anywhere and Relish will instantly jump to whatever note matches the search string.  I mean you can just start typing anywhere at all, wherever Relish has the focus.  You don't need to click a 'Search' button or pull up a menu option or anything.  Just type.  Out of all the features Relish has, this one was by far my favorite.  Boy I wish more software had this! 

The only bummer is that Type-To-Search will not find items unless they're in your current view.  That is, if you have a Daily view and the item you're searching for is not in the currently selected day -- Relish won't find it.  But, if you have it set to a Monthly view and the item you're searching for is somewhere in that month -- bingo, no problem.  I would have liked to see Relish search its whole database of future items, rather than whatever is in the currently displayed list.  

Other Conveniences

Relish is very 'free form' in nature, with very little bound by any main window.  This differs from Organizer, since you can create new views of your appointments and arrange them where you like on the desktop.  This may be especially handy for anyone using a virtual desktop manager like the one in Object Desktop.  Plus, when minimized, Relish can leave a small, unobtrusive calendar in the corner of your desktop.  Double-click on any date to get a summary of things to be done on that day.  

And most importantly of all, Relish can remind you of appointments even when the program itself isn't already running.  This is a real big plus that I didn't find in Organizer.  It can also be extremely valuable, since a PIM is supposed to remind you of things you might normally forget -- but it can't remind you of anything if one of the things you normally forget is to start the darn PIM in the first place.  So Relish installs a small program that launches itself and runs in the background whenever you boot your machine.  It then quietly monitors your appointments, and when one comes due it plays a tune and pops up a message.  Trust me, this feature counts.  

Summary

What Relish excels at is quick and fast scheduling.  It's small and not the least bit bloated.  Relish would probably be perfect for laptops or other RAM constrained systems that would normally get murdered by the demands of Lotus Organizer.  Relish may also be just the cup of tea for someone who values hassle-free integration with the Workplace Shell and a compact profile.  

But I think Sundial still needs to get out the proverbial sandpaper and smooth the rough edges down on this thing.  It doesn't need to look like a 6-ring binder, but it could sure as heck use a better looking default color scheme! I also think the address/phone book needs a major overhaul, with more spaces (nooks and crannies) for entering contact information.

               * * *

Relish
     by (http://www.sundialsystems.com/) Sundial Systems
     MSRP: US$89.00

(http://www.spectra.net/~fox/) Chris Wenham is a freelance web designer, writer and Englishman who now lives in Endicott, NY.  In the past he has written comedy, sci-fi, Pascal, Rexx, HTML and Gibberish.  He has been using OS/2 exclusively for the past 2 years.

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

Hacksaw v1.0	- by Dr.  Dirk Terrell

Hacksaw v1.0 from InnoVal is an indispensable tool for people like myself who have to  automate various Internet-related activities.  It provides functions for accessing  HTTP, SMTP, POP3, and FTP servers from a command-line interface.  Once you use Hacksaw, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it.

Installation

Put HACKSAW.EXE in your PATH.  That's it.  This isn't a pretty, GUI application with 10 megs of DLLs that has to put 50 entries in your OS2.INI file.  This is a command-line, 150K Swiss Army Knife of an application that packs more features per kilobyte than anything I've seen in a long time.  Everything you need is right there in that one executable file, and as long as OS/2 can find it, you've got it installed.

Features

Hacksaw gives you tools for accessing the most commonly used Internet protocols: HTTP for the Web, SMTP and POP3 for e-mail, and FTP for transferring files.  For each protocol, Hacksaw has several commands that enable you to do just about anything you can imagine.

For HTTP, Hacksaw has the RETRIEVE and RETRIEVEHEADERS commands.  RETRIEVE is used to get web pages and RETRIEVEHEADERS is used when you only want to get the header lines for a  particular page.

The e-mail commands are SEND, MAILWAITING, RETRIEVE, AND DELETE.  SEND uses SMTP to send an e-mail message.  MAILWAITING checks a POP3 account to see if there is any mail to be read.  RETRIEVE and DELETE will download messages and delete them from the POP3 server.

The set of FTP commands is extensive.  Of course there are the basic things like sending and  retrieving files, changing directories, listing directories, etc., but there are also some things like  SYNCHRONIZEHOST and SYNCHRONIZELOCAL which will make the remote FTP directory match one on the local machine or vice versa (i.e., mirroring).  You can also execute commands on the remote machine using SITECOMMAND.

Hacksaw uses a plain text file HACKSAW.INI to store configuration information.  Since it is plain ASCII text, you can edit it with any text editor.  You can also change its contents using the DEFINE command in Hacksaw.  This file is used to store information such as the default servers for the various protocols, your default login ID and password (which is encrypted before being written to the file), and variables (aliases) for commonly used things.

Using Hacksaw

Hacksaw can take its commands from the command line, from a configuration file, or both.  The format of a Hacksaw command is

     HACKSAW (PROTOCOL) COMMAND1(DATA) COMMAND2(DATA) ...

where PROTOCOL is either FTP, HTTP, E-MAIL, or DEFINE (used to add/change entries in the HACKSAW.INI file).  COMMAND#(DATA) are subcommands for a  particular protocol (such as SEND for FTP) and DATA represents the data for that particular subcommand to use.

Hacksaw control files let you do some very powerful things, such as perform an action on a list of files or directories.  The control files are plain ASCII files that use  basically the same syntax for commands as the command line versions.  If the program needs information that is not in the control file or the command line arguments, it  will prompt you for it.  This makes it very easy to use in situations where you have a general script to follow, but need to input specific information for a particular run.  

The applications for Hacksaw are very diverse.  I have used it to send an e-mail message to a list of about 7000 people.  (And no, it wasn't spam!).  If you like to work on web sites locally, and then transfer the files to the server, Hacksaw can do the file updating with a simple control file.  Want to eliminate spam from your e-mail before you download it? Hacksaw comes with a REXX script that does exactly this.  REXX and Hacksaw are a very powerful combination.

Conclusion

Hacksaw is a fully-functional shareware application.  You can try it out for free  without any limitations.  I think you will be surprised by how easy it is to use this very powerful program.  The registration fee for the shareware version is $29.95 and it may  very well be the best money you ever spent on software.  For those of you who work in a multiplatform environment, Hacksaw is also available in a Win95/NT version.  

               * * *

Hacksaw 1.0C
     by (http://www.innoval.com/) InnoVal
     download from the (http://www.os2ss.com/archives/hobbes/os2/apps/internet/suite/shackos2.zip) OS/2 Supersite (ZIP, 100k)
     Registration: US$29.95

(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.

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

Internet Gate for OS/2	- by Chris Williams

Providing an inexpensive and reliable way to share an Internet connection with other computers in the SOHO environment just got easier.  These days, implementing complete Internet gateway solutions means having more than just a Web proxy server.  It also means providing basic firewall protection, DNS proxy services, SOCKS and even specific site blocking & "tattleware" functions to control access to places an organization might find undesirable.  Thanks to Marco Maccaferri Software Development's (http://www.maccasoft.com/igate120/index.html) Internet Gate, an OS/2 equipped PC can act as, well... an Internet gateway for any number of machines connected to it.

The price is certainly right for anybody looking for an efficient way to expand the capabilities of their small network.  And while setting up and managing a TCP/IP network is still not something a novice should try on their own, day-to-day operations with Internet Gate are very straightforward.

An example of a situation where Internet Gate is a great answer is something like this: A community service organization has a small, peer-to-peer LAN with 5 workstations.  They have set things up on the LAN so that they can share a printer and a few files using NetBIOS over TCP/IP.  They have picked a range of TCP/IP addresses to use at random since, at first, they never expected to connect their entire network to anything in the outside world.  One of their computers is also equipped with a modem which is set up so that it can connect to the Internet via a local service provider.  They have set up specific routing to the TCP/IP addresses they are using locally, so the modem-connected PC can talk simultaneously with both the Internet and the local network.

This organization decides it would be really great if they could share the Internet connection they have with all of their computers.  Of course, they can't afford to buy lots of hardware and software to make this all work.  The ideal solution for them would be if they could have the Internet connection establish itself automatically when they needed it, and then to disconnect itself when nothing was happening.  Internet Gate does all of this and more. 

Installation uses the standard-issue OS/2 installer we all have come to know and love.  You are presented with the path where the files are going to be placed and given the opportunity to change it.  Once that's done, the files are copied over and an appropriately named folder is created on the desktop.  It's all quite uneventful -- exactly the way an installation program should be.  In my case, the install program made no changes to my CONFIG.SYS file even though the installer had preselected the option to update it.  Unchecking this option produced the standard "Are you sure?" and "Would you like a copy instead?" series of messages.
There is no specific uninstaller for the program, but the number of files is relatively small and they are all placed in the same directory.  Removing the product is just a matter of deleting the Internet Gate folder from the desktop and the directory containing the program files.  A quick check of CONFIG.SYS for any changes is probably not a bad idea, though.

Setting up Internet Gate's configuration is also easy provided you have a good basic understanding of TCP/IP networking.  Everything is done via a single, tabbed settings notebook.  Most of the features are enabled or disabled with checkboxes and the default settings are nicely tuned for the small environment.  All of the things you would expect to be present are there.  The latest of these is HTTP caching, which allows for faster retrieval of recently accessed pages.  The default cache size of 2MB is a bit on the small side for my taste, but it's not a problem to change it around.

One of the features I like the most is the automatic dialer and automatic disconnect features.  Internet Gate can use either the IBM Global Network Dialer or the Dial Other Internet Providers programs to automatically connect or disconnect based on the presence or lack of a request from another computer to access the network.  Because it uses the existing dialer programs, all of the settings you need to make your connection work should be completed within those dialer programs.  Once things are going the way you want them to, just tell Internet Gate which of the dialer programs you want to use and how long you want to wait before dropping the line for lack of activity.  The rest happens automatically.  Whatever you do here, don't try to get Internet Gate to work with your dialer until after you are sure the dialer is able to connect properly to your ISP with no outside intervention.  If you don't, it won't work.  Period.

The bread-and-butter feature of Internet Gate is probably the SOCKS server.  This provides the main method for other computers to access the Internet over your gateway.  It allows negotiation of the majority of the Internet protocols used by Web browsers today.  SOCKS requires the presence of a DNS server to work properly, so it is a good idea to also enable the DNS proxy included with the software if you don't have a local DNS server for all of your systems.  Also included is a HTTP Proxy server which only passes HTTP protocol, a Rule Manager for basic firewall protection, a Mapped Link Gateway to support protocols like IRC, FTP & Telnet gateways and lots more.  You can enable, disable and configure any of these features to taste.  Again, the defaults for most all of these features are a good place to start, but most people will want to fine-tune things as they go.

The first time you start Internet Gate, you will notice that all of the services are enabled on the traditional ports one would expect.  You wind up deciding which of these you want to turn off and which will need to be changed to conform to your particular network configuration.  Again, this is not for the networking novice, but an experienced person will readily understand and be able to configure all of these.  The Rule Manager allows any combination of allowing or denying a specific TCP/IP address or URL, or ranges of addresses & URLs, to pass in or out of the gateway.  These individual rules are masked by a set of default rules that apply to the gateway in general.  The combination of the two provide a tool to fully manage both the firewall and access to any of those places you or your organization might find undesirable (or even embarrassing) to have displayed on your computer screens.  There is no "tattleware" feature that will audit attempts to connect to any URLs you have locked out.  This would be a nice additional feature to see in the future.

Documentation for Internet Gate comes in the form of an on-line book.  It is well structured and easy to read, but is certainly intended for an audience of people who have the basics of Internet and TCP/IP networking under their belts.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  I can think of few people who would trust their organizations' Internet access to someone with very little or no networking experience.  If you know enough to be able to set up a TCP/IP based network under OS/2, this program is a snap.  The documentation is arranged in a way that most everything you would want to know to set up and maintain your gateway can be found in just a few clicks.

In all, Internet Gate is a well balanced tool for providing basic gateway services to small and medium-sized networks.  It's easy to install and well behaved.  Most of all, it doesn't interfere with the regular operation of the PC that is running it.  That means you can still use the system you're running your gateway on for other tasks.  While you might not want just anybody using your Internet firewall and gateway machine as their desktop computer, it's certainly a testimony to this product that it is possible.  For the price, it's definitely one to put on your Christmas list if you have any would-be Internet access administrators you want to surprise.

               * * *

Internet Gate v1.21
     by (http://www.maccasoft.com/) MaccaSoft
     download from (ftp://ftp.bmtmicro.com/bmtmicro/igos2120.zip) BMT Micro (ZIP, 855k)
     Registration: Free for personal use; US$75 for 5-users

(http://privateI.com/~chrisw/) Chris Williams has been actively involved with OS/2 systems for the past six years.  A former IBM employee, OS/2 Ambassador, and long time member of Team OS/2, he is currently a PC and network specialist for Perot Systems Corporation.

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

WebMirror v1.10	- by Dr. Dirk Terrell

WebMirror v1.10 is a tool for mirroring web sites. It's a little different, though, from other tools of this type in that it does not store the retrieved HTML files as separate files on your disk. It uses one database file to store all of the HTML and image files. To access the files, you use the HTTP proxy built into WebMirror and it handles the retrieval of the files from the database seamlessly. 

Installation

WebMirror's installation program looks very familiar if you have installed software in Windows 95. (WebMirror is also available for that platform which could be very convenient for multi-OS users.) It allows you to specify the location of the  installed program. The process went without any problems on my machine. When the installation finishes, you will find a WebMirror folder object on your desktop.

Up and Running

Compared to some mirroring programs, WebMirror is very easy to use. The configuration notebook (again looking very Windows 95-ish) allows you to set such options as ignoring in-line images, enabling the local proxy server and its port number, and scheduling automated retrieval of a list of URLs. If you have to access the Internet through a proxy server, the settings for it can be set here as well. The local  proxy server that WebMirror uses to communicate with your web browser uses the local loopback interface, so you must have that either by enabling it in your TCP/IP configuration notebook (select "loopback interface" and then check the "Enabled" box) or by entering 

     ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1

at an OS/2 command prompt.

Once you have the options set, you're ready to start retrieving web sites. To add a new site to your list, selecting "Add" from the "URL" menu brings up a Wizard that lets you specify the URL of the site, how many levels of links to follow, whether or not to follow links to other sites, and the frequency with which the site should be mirrored. Once those parameters are set the way you want them, a click of the mouse  creates an entry in the URL list for that web site.

You can schedule a URL to be mirrored at a particular time or you can mirror it manually by selecting "Force Update" from the "URL" menu. When the mirroring is being done, you can follow the progress by clicking on the "Log View" tab in the main window. As each  page or graphic is downloaded, it will be listed.

Since the program stores all of the downloaded files in a single file, you don't have to worry about problems with long filenames if you are using the FAT file system. This storage  method also means more efficient use of disk space, especially on a FAT partition. The text information in the database file is not compressed though, as I discovered by looking at it with the Enhanced Editor. Since text usually compresses very well, this would be a good feature for a future version.

Browsing the Pages

Now that you have mirrored a site, you are almost ready to view it. The first thing you have to do  is set up your web browser so that it uses WebMirror as its proxy. With Netscape Navigator, for example, you would select "Network Preferences" under the "Options" menu and then click on the "Proxies" tab  in the settings notebook. There you would click on the "Manual Proxy Configuration" radio button and then the "View" button. For "HTTP Proxy" type 127.0.0.1 in the entry field and 8080 as the port (or  whatever you had set it to in the "Local Proxy" configuration in WebMirror). You will probably  want to check the "Allow pass-through on cache misses" box in the "Local Proxy" configuration of WebMirror so that you can still reach non-mirrored sites.

Once the proxies are set up, you can type the URL of a mirrored site, and WebMirror will  serve the data to your web browser. Dialup users might find WebMirror to be useful because  you can download a web site at night when rates (and traffic) are lower, and then browse the site offline without having to worry about connection fees.

It might be useful to be able to save a particular site in the more conventional way by  having separate HTML and image files. For example, you might want to give the files to  someone who doesn't have WebMirror or uses and operating system besides the ones WebMirror supports. Fortunately, WebMirror has an "Export" function that allows you to  do this. You simply select the URL for the web site and click on the "Export" button. A window comes up that asks you where the files should be saved as well as for the name to be used for the main HTML file. 

I had no problems with any of the web sites I mirrored. One thing to watch out for, though, is an incompatibility between database files for old versions of WebMirror and the latest one. Version 1.10 uses a slightly different format and this  caused some head-scratching until an e-mail exchange with the author revealed this problem.

Conclusion

WebMirror is a nice program. It is very easy to use and does things in a very sensible way. The single-user license is $25 and a 5-user license is $55. Other licenses are also available. It is a shareware application, so I encourage you to look at it and see if it suits your needs.

               * * *

WebMirror v1.10
     by (http://www.maccasoft.com/) MaccaSoft
     download from (ftp://ftp.bmtmicro.com/bmtmicro/wmos2110.zip) BMT Micro (ZIP, 220k)
     Registration: US$25

(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.

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

RSJ CD Writer for OS/2	- by Chris Williams

In earlier articles, I have talked about CD Recording under OS/2 and the "bad news" that existing OS/2 software for making your own CDs was well behind what could be found on other platforms.  After getting my e-mail in-box stuffed full, I am writing to say the good news is I was wrong!  There is an alternative that not only provides all of the functionality one can expect from a modern CD Recording package, it makes the job of getting your files on CD as easy as using XCOPY.

RSJ CD Writer for OS/2, from a German company of the same name, provides a fast, easy and reliable method of creating CDs by making your SCSI CD recorder appear as a writable, removable-media drive.  The key to it is the RSJ CD Writer Installable File System (IFS), which acts as a filter to write the files to CD.  In the process of doing this, it also takes away almost all of the fuss and worry that usually goes with making CDs.

The software comes on a single diskette, and the installation program uses a single panel that provides all of the software settings up front.  You have the ability to change any of them to taste, but most of the default values are very good.  The only values I changed were the drive letter for my CD recording device (drive F: instead of Z:) and the recording speed, which I specifically set to 4X.  The other choices were 1X, 2X and 0X (which selects the maximum speed available).  After confirming your choices, the installation copies the program files, creates the RSJ folder and related objects and prompts you for your registration key.  After that, all you need is a system reboot and you're ready to go.  The whole process can be completed in less than 10 minutes.

There are only four objects in the RSJ folder:  CD Viewer, CD Writer Control, Start Error Log and Installation.  The installation object will allow you to change any of the options you set during your first installation.  There is no uninstall program.  Fortunately, if you do have to remove it, RSJ places all of its files in its own directory and clearly comments all of the changes it makes to your CONFIG.SYS file.  Removing the changes in CONFIG.SYS, deleting RSJ's directory, and removing the RSJ folder from the desktop erases all traces of the program from your system.

After restarting, the first thing I noticed was that the RSJ device drivers searched for recordable CD devices "masquerading as CD-ROM drives."  Of course, it found my Yamaha CDR400c and registered it to the system as a WORM (Write Once Read Many) device.  This is the way the software is supposed to work, but it also has the side effect of removing the ability of your CD recorder to function as a CD-ROM device without using RSJ to access it.  This isn't really a big problem, but if you need to use your recorder as a reader, you need to keep this situation in mind.  It means that you will need to take an extra step to see the CDs in the recorder even if you don't want to write anything to them.

Once you're up and running, creating CDs is amazingly easy.  No need to "stage" your files before writing them, no caches to create, no sessions to manage.  Simply insert a recordable disk in your recorder, open the RSJ folder and use the CD Writer Control object to "Attach" the CD as a drive.  This involves pushing a big button labeled "Attach".  The default drive letter is the one you specified during installation, but you're given the option of changing it now if you want to.  (This is the extra step I mentioned you need to take if you want to use your recorder to read existing CD-ROMs)

You are also given the option to "format" the CD after attaching it.  If the CD you are using has already been written to by something other than RSJ, writing to the CD recorder is automatically disabled when you attach the CD.  In reality, you're not actually formatting the CD, you're only initializing the disk for a recording "session" the same way you would with any CD recording software.  If you don't format the CD when you attach it, you can always open an OS/2 window and just type "format F:" where F: is the drive letter you used to attach the CD.  That's right -- it's that simple!  In fact, RSJ has mapped all of the normal disk operations via its installable file system driver to what you would expect to see from any removable media device.  Once attached, you can treat the CD in your recorder like it was any other kind of removable disk.  You can even save files directly to the CD from applications.

Once you're done copying files to the disk, you need to "finalize" the CD.  Again the CD Writer Control object comes back into the picture.  The same button you used to attach the CD has now changed to the Finalize button.  Pushing it gives you several options, including the ability to "write protect" the CD from further modification.  Normally, the default of "Finalize and Close Session" is all you need.  When completed, the CD will eject itself from the recorder.  The result is a freshly recorded CD with all of your data.

Music CDs are just as simple.  Instead of using the CD Writer Control object, use the CD Viewer object.  From here you can copy individual music tracks, save them to your hard disk as .wav files, and change any of a plethora of options.  This is also the best way to create mixed-format CDs with both music and data.  You can also initialize and finalize CDs directly from the CD Viewer.  Almost everything is "drag & drop" easy.

The CDs created by RSJ can be read by any operating system that supports the ISO9660 level 3 standard.  Support for Rock Ridge extensions and even Joliet is automatically included, so your friends (or enemies) running UNIX and Windows 95 can read your CDs.  In fact, the only OS that seems to have a problem reading CDs created with RSJ is Windows NT 3.51, but that's because it doesn't support ISO level 3, Rock Ridge, or Joliet.  RSJ can be told to use ISO levels 1 and 2, so if you need to create CDs that can be read by NT 3.51, you can, but you will be limited to the old DOS 8.3 naming conventions.

If these features sound familiar to people in the CD recording world, it's because this is what is promised as the future with Universal Data Format and packet writing.  The problem with UDF at the moment is that only certain software programs can even read it, and only very few software programs are on the market that can record it.  RSJ does almost everything packet writing does now using standards and formats that are used by the vast majority of CD recorders in the world today.  This could be one of the best-kept secrets around!

Has anyone noticed that, so far, I've never mentioned one of the most notorious CD recording errors; the Buffer Underrun?  That's because RSJ has found a way to all but eliminates them from the user's eyes.  While recording, even if a buffer underrun error condition is encountered, RSJ will try to compensate for it.  As long as the recorder is still capable of writing to the disk, the existing session is closed and another is started; picking up where the things went wrong.  All of this is done under the covers and you will normally never see it.  It also can save you some money in trashed CDs.

OK, so what's "wrong" with RSJ?  The answer is, "Not a lot, but the are a few imperfections."  It does still require a well-equipped system for best results and only SCSI CD recorders are supported at this time.  In the case of my Yamaha CDR400c, I had a terrible time getting it to work properly at first.  A call to RSJ for technical support determined that I had a very old version of firmware causing the problem.  A visit to Yamaha's Web site produced an updated version (the latest is 1.0i for those who are interested) which I installed, and the problems have since gone away.  My thanks to Christian Mueller at RSJ for his assistance.  His name also appears as the author of the product documentation.

Speaking of documentation, RSJ is currently at version 2.52, but the manual that comes with the product still refers to version 1.6.  While this isn't a really big deal because the software is so easy to use, an update would certainly improve things.  Most of the changes between 1.6 and 2.52 are added functionality that makes day-to-day life with RSJ easier.  The manual is also refreshingly short.  Getting files copied to a CD shouldn't require you to read another "War and Peace"-sized user's guide.  Other than that, the German heritage of this product comes through in the English version in some of the status messages the software produces.  The most obvious of these is in the status window of the CD Writer Control object where the phrase "CD ist modified" appears as part of the overall message once you have attached and formatted a CD.  This is just a typographical error and has no effect on the performance of the product.

Finally, the answer to the burning questions:  Will RSJ be around on OS/2 for the long-term and will it continue to be enhanced?  Yes!!!  In fact, while there is a Windows 95 version of RSJ with an NT version on the books for the future, primary development of the product continues to be on OS/2.  This means that the OS/2 version of RSJ will always be at the same level as its Windows counterparts.  RSJ has committed to keeping up the OS/2 version and even makes a point of saying so on its (http://www.rsj.de/) web site.  A (http://www.rsj.de/us/1demoos2.stm) 30-day trial version is available for download from there if you're interested in giving it a try.  You can also buy a copy direct from RSJ (https://www.rsj.de/us/0Bestell.htm) over the Internet.  You might notice that the Windows 95 version is less than half the price of the OS/2 version -- This has caused a few complaints, but I hear the OS/2 version is inherently better just because of the underlying environment you get to work in...  Seriously, at twice the price, the OS/2 version is still far superior to every CD recording software package I've seen on any platform, so dig deep, support RSJ on OS/2 and buy this product.  I did and have absolutely no regrets!

               * * *

RSJ CD-Writer v2.52
     by (http://www.rsj.de/us/cd_os2.htm) RSJ Software
     download the demo from (http://www.rsj.de/us/1demoos2.stm) RSJ Software
     MSRP: Approx. US$248 (electronic); Approx US$333 (regular)

(http://privateI.com/~chrisw/) Chris Williams has been actively involved with OS/2 systems for the past six years.  A former IBM employee, OS/2 Ambassador, and long time member of Team OS/2, he is currently a PC and network specialist for Perot Systems Corporation.

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

November '97 Reader Survey Results

Despite the fact that StarOffice has had a significant office suite available for OS/2 for some time, and despite the rumours of a planned suite from Sundial Systems, there has long been a sort of reverence in the OS/2 community for Lotus' SmartSuite line of products.  Whether it is because they are now an IBM subsidiary, because of their early support of OS/2, or because of their relative dominance in the industry, OS/2 users in general have anticipated a new version of SmartSuite for OS/2 for many years.

Last month, we decided to separate the noise from the truth about Lotus.  We asked our readers what they thought about, "The Lotus Position"

Answers to our survey were accepted from November 16th until December 13th.  We had a total of 1,334 replies to our questionnaire with 104 "spoiled" entries (replies were considered "spoiled" if they did not contain an e-mail address, if they were incomplete or if they were duplicates).  This left 1,230 valid replies.  The results were as follows:

Is SmartSuite the best OS/2 office suite?

With Lotus' huge market share (compared to any other maker of office suites for OS/2) we expected a fairly predictable answer to our first question last month.  However, the reality of your answers was quite different from what we expected.  While it was true that most of our readers (38.0%) thought that Lotus SmartSuite was the best OS/2 office suite, this wasn't quite a runaway majority.  Nearly half as many (17.7%) of you thought another suite was better and another group almost as large (17.6%) felt that all suites were more or less the same.

Do you want the new BETA of SmartSuite for OS/2?

However, whether our readers felt SmartSuite was the best product or not, the majority of them (52.8%) either intend to or have already acquired the beta version of the suite.  Apparently free (or nearly free in the case of the CD version) software has a strong attraction for OS/2 users.

Interestingly, of those who were definitely not interested in the SmartSuite beta, the largest group -- more than one in five people surveyed (22.0%) -- indicated they didn't want it because they don't like to use beta level programs.

Do you want the FINAL release of SmartSuite for OS/2?

Next we asked if our readers wanted the "final" version of the new SmartSuite.  Overwhelming numbers (80.2% of those surveyed) reported they desired at least one part of the finished suite, with over half the respondents (51.2%) indicating they wanted it all.  While a significant number (11.5%) weren't sure what SmartSuite was or if they wanted it, very few people (8.2%) reported that they definitely did not want a new version of SmartSuite.

Does Lotus support the OS/2 market well?

Finally last month we asked what you thought of Lotus' overall performance in the OS/2 market.  Apparently Lotus needs to do some work on their customer relations with the OS/2 community.  More than one in every two readers (51.8%) told us that, in their opinion, Lotus was indifferent to the OS/2 market.  Still, many OS/2ers do feel that Lotus is doing a good job, as can be seen by the 35.2% of our readers that felt Lotus was doing a "good" or "excellent" job supporting OS/2.  Perhaps surprisingly, considering the long delays in release dates for SmartSuite, very few of you (7.6%) felt that Lotus completely neglects the OS/2 market.

               * * *

That's it for this month.  Don't forget to fill out this month's questionnaire and check back in January for complete results!

 


               Complete November '97 Survey Results

Is SmartSuite the best OS/2 office suite?

Category				Count	Percentage
Yes, SmartSuite rules!		468	38.0%
Office suites are all the same	216	17.6%
No, another suite is better	218	17.7%
I'm confused, what's SmartSuite?	13	1.1%
I don't have a clue		315	25.6%
TOTAL				1,230	100.0%


Do you want the new BETA of SmartSuite for OS/2?

Category					Count	Percentage
I already have it				165	13.4%
I intend to download it for free		312	25.4%
I intend to purchase it on CD		172	14.0%
No, I don't use beta software		271	22.0%
No, I don't want any SmartSuite		91	7.4%
I'm still confused, what's SmartSuite?	10	0.8%
I'm undecided				209	17.0%
TOTAL					1,230	100.0%


Do you want the FINAL release of SmartSuite for OS/2?

Category					Count	Percentage
Yes, I want the whole suite		630	51.2%
Yes, I want some parts of the new suite	306	24.9%
Yes, I want one part of the new suite	51	4.1%
I'm happy with my current SmartSuite	17	1.4%
I told you, I don't want ANY SmartSuite	84	6.8%
For the last time, what is SmartSuite?	14	1.1%
I don't have any opinion			128	10.4%
TOTAL					1,230	99.9%

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


Does Lotus support the OS/2 market well?

Category					Count	Percentage
They do an excellent job supporting OS/2	34	2.8%
They do a good job supporting OS/2		399	32.4%
They are indifferent to the OS/2 market	637	51.8%
They don't support OS/2!			94	7.6%
I don't know				66	5.4%
TOTAL					1,230	100.0%

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

December '97 Reader Survey

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.

               This month's topic: FixPaks

Just fill in the form at http://www.os2ezine.com/v2n12/survey2.htm and check back next month to find out how "normal" you really are!

Do you have an idea that you think would make a (feedback@os2ezine.com) good survey question?

Don't forget to check out the complete results of last month's survey, in this issue!

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

Celebrity Corner

VOICE - The Win32-OS/2 Binary Project Q&A

Edited by Chris Wenham

On November 19th, (http://www.os2voice.org/) VOICE (Virtual OS/2 International Consumer Education) held a Question & Answer session with representatives of one of the most exciting and promising projects to happen for OS/2. (http://www.io.com/~timur/win32os2.html) The Win32-OS/2 Project's goal is to create a program that will literally convert a Windows 95 or Windows NT application (one that uses the Win32 API) into a native OS/2 application. This is not a tool for use by developers only, since it does not require the original source code of the program you wish to convert. This is a tool intended for regular users like you and me to operate. In this event, held on IRC (Internet Relay Chat), OS/2 users took the opportunity to ask questions about this project and learn more from the people directly involved. 

This log, edited for the web, is a complete transcript of the event. The only editing made was to clean the general "noise" of IRC, reformat it for presentation, correct obvious typos, and rearrange the occasional answer given out of order. Only Timur Tabi and Peter Fitzsimmons's nicks were simplified, the rest (like "MADodel", "DynoMutt" and others) are as they appeared on IRC.

Published in OS/2 e-Zine! with permission.

               * * *

Timur: OK, I'd like to make a few statements before we get into questions. First, the web page has been updated -- we can now convert small MFC applications. Next on the list is comctl32.dll, which is a DLL that is used by almost every major Win95 app. Once that's converted, there should be a significant number of new apps that can be converted. Second, I'd like to introduce Peter Fitzsimmons, who is also on the team.
Peter: howdy
Timur: Third, my role in this project is little more than the web page maintainer and Warpstock speaker. Calling myself the "spokesmodel" was perhaps a bit pretentious :-)   The person doing all the real work is Sander Van Leeuven (sp?)

DynoMutt: Is there currently a list of successfully converted Windows apps?
Timur: no, there is no list really
Peter: the type of apps we have working are some of the ones that come with NT 4.0 -- Solitaire, Freecell, Notepad.
Timur: the number of apps we can convert is so small that we haven't tried to make a list. We have not put into place a procedure where we can test several apps. Until we do, I hesitate to provide a list.
Peter: We also have a few stdin/stdout (non-console command line) apps working.

GamerX: Does Open32 help in the conversion of Win32 applications?
Timur: it doesn't help in the conversion of the app, but it is NECESSARY to run the converted app
GamerX: Because of the Win32 functions it emulates?
Timur: yes -- so the more API's are in Open32, the more apps we can run
Peter: there are 100's of win32 api's that we simply "redirect" to pmwinx.dll (the open32 dll)

nando2: Is there a working converted 'Wordpad' for OS/2? (I ask because it uses MFCnnn.DLL = Microsoft Foundation Classes)
Timur: Peter can answer that for certain, but last I checked, wordpad was not working
Peter: I don't know about wordpad.
Timur: again, the biggest stopping block at this point is comctl32.dll -- which handles all the cool controls like toolbars and stuff

TheSeer: Is there or will there be a support for ATM fonts. I know ATM is an "extra" product for Windows...
Timur: I'm confused by that questions, OS/2 already supports ATM fonts, doesn't it?
Peter: TheSeer: yes

Terrulen: Can we then assume that the new Open32 APIs in FixPak 3SE and FixPak 5 will open even more apps for conversion, or speed up your work?
Timur: terrulen: yes, it will. However, we still don't have a list yet from Lotus or IBM what those 50 new API's are

Abraxas: Timur (re: ATM) The Seer just wondered since some Windoze-Apps can't work with the ATM.. and ATM is not "natively" included into windows..
Peter: Abraxas: I have written open32 apps;  they can use ATM fonts.  So our converted apps can too.

Sleekit: (Looking further into the future here, but) Will running Win32 programs increase system overhead?  If I'm running OS/2 in an ISP, and I need to run a Win32 (perish the thought), will I have to be concerned about slowdowns?
Timur: well, the converted apps are just like normal OS/2 apps that use Open32. Just like SmartSuite
Peter: Sleekit: the first open32 app you run starts a small background process
Sleekit: So, no massive drain on memory?
Timur: so there's the overhead of loading a couple large DLL's into memory, but other than that, there is no performance hit
Peter: Sleekit: for the registry.
Timur: look at the size of pmwinx.dll -- that will be how much additional space you need

GamerX: Do you know if or when some samples applications will be made available, like solitaire ported from NT 4.0?
Timur: we are NEVER going to make any converted apps available. That is a copyright violation
GamerX: How about freeware with source code applications? Such as those covered by the GNU copyleft?
Timur: well, perhaps, but I see little point in that
MADodel: Just the tool to convert them then?
Peter: GamerX: that's an idea
Timur: yes, we'll only provide the tool to convert them.  How you use that tool is your business. Keep in mind that some licenses prohibit you from running your app under non-MS operating systems.


WrightC: Timur or Pfitz, I'm curious as to how these tools would actually help a large Win32 application be installed... does it convert the installation program 'on the fly'? Or would we need to have all dll's and exe's somehow already uncompressed?
Peter: wrightc: the idea right now is you install the app under Win95/NT,  and then convert it... but it is possible that SETUP's will be done later.
Timur: our immediate plans are to require that you install your app under Win95/NT on another partition, and then you boot OS/2 and access those exe's and dll's and convert them.

Dargon: Are you looking for volunteers for helping with the coding of the project?
Timur: no, we are not looking for any more volunteers.

Dark: Is it a full conversion to a native OS/2 executable (open 32, etc.), or is it a partial conversion with lots of  "patches" to force it to work under OS/2?
Timur: no, it's a full conversion. However, we need to supply the full Win32 API one way or another, whatever Open32 doesn't provide, we have to provide ourselves. These additional API's are located in various DLL's that we call the "supplemental DLL's"
Dark: OK.  So it will be slower than native NT ?
Timur: it's as fast as an Open32 app. It's as fast as SmartSuite

TheSeer: will the converter automatically find all used DLL's or do we have to start the converter for each library.?
Timur: no, it will not find them. We may provide additional tools to help you locate them, and perhaps even automate the process. But for now, it's all manual.
Peter: TheSeer: an "on the fly" converter is in the back burner

Klaus: TimurTabi: Do you know when/if IBM will fix this "512MB RAM" problem of the OS/2 Client (so that it would be possible to port the MS Office) Or do you have found any way to avoid the "512MB RAM Problem?
Timur: I get different answers to this question depending on whom I ask. I personally have not heard anything promising in this regard. My guess is that IBM will feel pressure from its customers that are using this converter, and they will eventually fix the problem.
Peter: Klaus: if we can get Word running on SMP (where there is > 512mb) support,  I will get that fix put in the kernel.

_grey: TimurTabi: has IBM reacted to any of your initial successes? Have you received any aid or offers of help from IBM or any third parties?
Timur: I personally have had no communications from IBM.
Peter: _grey: yes. There's even one ibm'er on the team
Timur: pfitz: having an IBM'er on the team is NOT the same thing as official contact from IBM

nando2: timur and pfitz: Are you guys working with, or have any of you contacted DAVID REICH?, he's one of the of the brains behind (DAX/DAPIE/OPEN32). His e-mail is 76711,632 (CIS) or (speedracer@vnet.ibm.com) speedracer@vnet.ibm.com (dunno if he's still in IBM)
Peter: nando2: yes. he's still at ibm,  but not the mgr of DAX (but he has helped anyway)

Barmaley: Are Open32 APIs slower than native OS/2 APIs? If so, how much?
Timur: good question.  I think overall they're slower, but there may be some that are faster here and there.
Peter: In general,  open32 is damn good!  Some open32 apps run faster on OS/2 than Win95/NT.
Timur: Trust Peter -- he knows better than I

Terrulen: Where is the bulk of the work being done? On the supplemental DLLs?
Timur: the bulk of the work now is in the DLL's.

darkstar: Timur: what plans do you have to make it available? Free?
Timur: yes, IT WILL BE FREE.
Peter: darkstar: it will be free for the end user anyway.
Timur: one thing I want to mention is that the converted EXE's and DLL's are often MUCH SMALLER than the originals

nathana: First, how long to you 'spect it to be before an alpha or beta or demo version is released, and how long do you guesstimate it will be before the final thing is done?  Also, will any source code be released to the public? GA.
Timur: nathana: I don't have any availability dates.  Pfitz, what about the source?
Peter: nathana: source code,  probably not.

Korig: Could you clarify that the package will be of no use at all if you don't have a copy of Win95 installed on the same machine?
Peter: Korig: you will need Win95,  but not nec. on the same machine.
Timur: korig: yes, if you don't have Win95/NT installed, it will be useless.  That may change in the future, though

DynoMutt: What version of DirectX are you converting? also: is Win16 a subset of Win32, and if so, will Win16 be convertible too?
Timur: dyno: directx support is WAY down the road. Win16 apps WILL NOT be supported
Peter: DynoMutt: OS/2 already runs 16-bit win apps.  Our project is only for pure 32-bit exe's and dll's.

Sleekit: I'm interested in your opinions on whether or not this will become a major draw for OS/2's upcoming versions in the end user market
Peter: Sleekit: maybe,  but our focus is the corporate market.
Timur: sleekit: yes, I see all sorts of users, from SOHO to enterprise, either sticking with or switching to OS/2 because of this tool. Peter is more interested in the corporate, whereas my interest is in the SOHO.

os2hq: Okay, thanx.  Timur, what about Win32s 1.30 support?  It's a real sticking point with me.
Timur: Win32s is a 16-bit thing -- we're not touching that. Win32s is for Win-OS/2.  This project is completely unrelated to Win-OS/2

nando2: My main interest is CD-R programs, does open32 include a 'bridge' to turn windows 'aspi32' request to the OS/2 aspi manager? or would you have to convert ASPI32.DLL as well?? I heard open32 already includes winsock32 calls
Timur: nando2: There is no limit to what we can do.  It's all a question of time.
Peter: nando2: Not sure about aspi.

WrightC: Do you know how long it will take (rough estimate) before this toolset will be developed enough so that high-end applications (like Desktop Publishing programs) can be converted?
Timur: WrightC: Again, we have no availability dates.
Peter: WrightC: There are only a few of us really doing any coding,  and are all volunteers.  It will be a few months at least -- if it is even possible.

timtim: Have [Microsoft] been in contact /contacted ?
Timur: timtim: no, we don't care about MS, and they haven't contacted us (to my knowledge)
Peter: the only "official" contact we've had from any companies are large OS/2 shops that want to use the product.  IBM and MS have not contacted us officially.

nando2: Can you confirm then if winsock calls ARE included in open32?
Timur: I don't think winsock is in Open32, but pmsock is just like it
Peter: nando2: someone just did the winsock stuff.  It is done/
Peter: oops,  I was wrong about winsock. (quoting from "VeV:") "No it's not done.  I had hoped for 70% this week, I'll only have about 40% (for wsock32)."

ulthar: Is it possible that I will be able to code win32 Visual Basic programs under OS/2 as I now do win16 VB programs?
Timur: ulthar: do you mean can VB be converted to an OS/2 app?
ulthar: yes, Timur
Timur: perhaps, but it's just like any other major app: we don't know for sure how long it will take to convert any of them. Right now we're still in code-frenzy stage. We know we have lots of DLL's and API's to provide, so we're not even measuring our progress.

Terrulen: How long ago did you start working on this project?
Timur: terrulen: about six months ago.  pfitz?
Peter: Terrulen: june

trix: I may have missed a lot... but is this just going to be a development package? or something anyone can use?
Timur: no, this is for END-USERS only

Dark: OpenGL games are going to be the future of gaming pretty soon.  (For our generic 3d first person ones anyway).  Will OpenGL win items be converted using this utility?  As I understand some corporations are NOT going to convert and market OS/2 versions of some games.  (Quake II may be one of those mentioned not porting)
Timur: dark: we have someone working on that already :-)
Peter: dark: we have someone who WILL work on that would be more accurate I think. If we can't get the basics working,  the other stuff will be wasted time.

PHS: Any idea how to handle removed relocation records AKA based loading. Particularly when this goes beyond OS/2s process address space ?
Peter: If an object (code/data) is not relocatable,  and does not fit in OS/2,  it will not work. We had a hell of a time just getting the ones that did fit in the address space to work! And ended up with a kludge,   but it works.
PHS: Thought so :) Any other incompatibilities that will prevent certain executables from running at all ?
Peter: There are still some things have not done (like memory mapped files) that might cause problems. There is also the "user excretion" problem

trix: what about developing win32-OS/2 apps?  WIll there be libraries available to those of us who would like to develop compatible apps?
Timur: trix: we will make our DLL's available to developers, if they want.

WrightC: Would it be possible for a non-OS/2 ISV to write an app in Win32, then convert it with your tools *after Compile*, and voila -- instant OS/2 app?
Timur: Yes. However, that OS/2 app will lack OS/2-specific features like WPS integration

codehd7: pfitz: you mentioned that source code will not be released. is it a definite No and what are the reasons please?
Peter: codehd7: this is a long story,  and requires you to listen to the "mission statement."  In the beginning (before Timur, so I don't know what he thinks) it was decided that the best thing for all OS/2 users was to keep large companies using OS/2  So the target is apps that will keep large companies from switching from OS/2 to NT. IOW,  word processors, presentation programs and spreadsheets. It has also been my experience that large companies do not use "freeware" or "shareware" (in general) and they also don't like things that "hackers have the source code to." So the best thing that could happen (for OS/2) is for us to get this thing to work and present it to IBM and have them bless it and release it.
Timur: pfitz: or even better, make it run on the fly and add it to a FixPak!

Dirk: Timur/Peter, great project. Just curious if you have any funding and if not, could it help speed development?
Timur: dirk: no funding, and it wouldn't help either.
Peter: dirk: some people need compilers.
Timur: that's true. some people do need compilers.

mandie: timur: weren't there some ppl at Warpstock that wanted to help with funding?
Timur: I think so, but I didn't pay much attention, since I didn't think we needed any money

WrightC: When a Win32 app is converted with the tools, will it lack all integration with the WPS, or will there be a way to hook some WPS functionality in?
Timur: It will lack all the OS/2-specific stuff.

Dark: Several other's have asked similar things, but...       Is there anyway we can help you to keep the project going smoothly?  Asking corporations for support.  Mailing, being around for help, etc.?
Timur: dark: not for the time being.  it's still to early.  the best thing that you can do is tell big companies that are switching to NT, "Hey, wait! look at this stuff!"

Barmaley: If a Windows compiler will be converted, how is it expected to work?
Timur: Just like an OS/2 compiler.
Barmaley: But it will still generate win exes, right?
Timur: No, it generates OS/2 exe's
[Editor's note: this is actually incorrect; Timur corrects himself later in this transcript.]

Projects: And if IBM doesn't bless and release it?
Peter: Projects: then I suspect we will have to set up some sort of body to sell it (since large companies insist on paying for software -- so they get support)

nathana: Are you saying that you are relying on IBM to release this?  And if they decide not to, will you release it anyways?
Timur: We're not relying on IBM for anything

Sleekit_: I'd like to ask (if you two have one) what the process entails for the user to convert and run a program.
Timur: That's answered on the web page -- basically just do "pe2lx winapp.exe os2app.exe" and that's it.  The same for the DLL's

PolyEx: If this is a project  that is asking for volunteers, why is it not set up with a GNU lisc. etc... would this not speed up development?
Timur: Polyex: we're not asking for volunteers.

PHS: Do you plan to release the PE2LX + Thunks source code ? Perhaps for someone to tailor a ELF2LX from it ?
Peter: No
Timur: No, we will not release our source
Peter: I can only see the source being released if no one wants to support it.
Timur: like pfitz said, some companies don't like the security risks that it would allow.

ulthar: What are your thoughts regarding the fact that this is user-driven rather than IBM-driven?  Is OS/2 getting more like Linux in that regard?
Timur: ulthar: I don't think so.  I don't look at this any different than XFree/86. In fact, since the source code won't be available, it's not even like that either.

PolyEx: So this is a commercial product?
Timur: Polyex: no, it's not commercial. Although Peter says that some companies will expect a formal support/purchase mechanism before they consider it.  we'll leave that to someone else.
Peter: Timur: the big OS/2 shops are banks, insurance cos, etc.... they don't screw around when it comes to support!
Timur: Peter: yeah, but who will support them?  Not us!
Peter: Timur: if IBM doesn't, we might!  Maybe not you... and that would probably only happen if the product is a market failure (no one big wants it)

Caveman: My company uses a lot of CAD software on NT. I hope you will be able to do these types of programs also.
Timur: caveman: only time will tell. But I think CAD software would be easier than Office '97

Klaus: Large companies will have a problem with Win32->OS/2, because patched Software may not be legal and definitely unsupported , and support is (imho) more important for big companies than the software features.
Timur: Well, that's their problem.
Peter: Unsupported yes,  illegal?  I don't think so.
Timur: Peter: well, what if MS says, "you can only run Office under MS OS's?"
Peter: Klaus: as long as they have a valid license for the win32 s/w,  I don't see what the problem is.  They are not reverse engineering it.
Peter: Timur: I'd like to read such a license agreement (just before I mailed it to the DOJ :)

codehd7: Timur/pfitz: perhaps Brad Wardell (Stardock) would take over the project officially once it's in that stage???
Timur: I don't know if that's a good thing.
codehd7: timur: I'd think it's better than giving it to IBM
Peter: Stardock?  over my dead body!

MADodel: Any chance you will make this free to the individual user, but on a commercial basis for corporate users?
Timur: yes, it will be FREE!!!! FREE !!!! FREE !!!!!!!!  Free for corporate users too, if they want.
Peter: if ibm takes it,  it will be "part of OS/2" -- so not really free.

tandie: I have a q:... will you be looking for beta testers? and if so, what will be the mechanism for application?
Timur: I don't think we're going to have a closed beta
Peter: I imagine it will be an "open beta"

Caveman: I understand 16 bit is the past & 32 bit is the future, but why no 16 bit conversions?
Timur: because we don't care.
Peter: because open32 is 32-bit

MADodel: So who was the originator of this project?
Timur: Sander I think
Peter: let me get his full name
Timur: I know the idea was floating around the internet for 1-2 years already.
Peter: Sander van Leeuwen ((sandervl@xs4all.nl) sandervl@xs4all.nl)

Dark: Is it possible when testing this program, that the new libraries and executables could severely damage our current setup?  Or, are all the libraries used completely new, and not modifications of current ones used by OS/2?
Timur: They're completely new
Peter: One of them comes with OS/2: pmwinx.dll, as well as the registry daemon. The rest are new,  and have The same names user under win32 (kernel32.dll, user32.dll, etc.)
Timur: But we're not touching those
Dark: OK.  But, no serious changes (like kernel modifications)
Timur: No.
Peter: We don't patch any OS/2 code, but we do patch the converted code a little bit

nando2: I have read that IBM has included, or was going to include, OLE support into OS/2 for SmartSuite (since lotus uses OLE and never liked OpenDoc). could any of you confirm this? (ole into OS/2 FP3SE and/or Open32).  If it is, it would save you a lot of work and trouble. And a second simple one to save time: are you going to create a mailing list for this project so we can learn about your progress?  If not, does someone from VOICE volunteer to create one?
Timur: nando2: I heard that Lotus ported part of OLE to OS/2, but I doubt we'll be able to use that. And no, I have no plans for a mailing list.

TheSeer: Question to the copyright-stuff again: What about if it's prohibited to modify the stuff... I think creating an OS/2-exe is kind of doing a modified copy of the win-exe..?
Timur: We're not modifying anything.
Peter: The idea of a exe converter was Sanders (so simple,  but I never thought of it! everyone else was thinking "emulator")... Sander started it,  drafted me and a few others -- but still 80% of the work is sanders
Timur: What we're doing to the EXE is the same thing that the computer does when it loads it into memory.
.
TheSeer: Timur: you (?) said before some DLL's are even smaller... ??!
Peter: Because of .exe compression.  It's a trick :)

DaBull: How much overhead will win32->OS/2 require and how much of a performance hit?
Timur: No overhead, and it might even be faster.
Peter: You only convert the app once;  after that it is native OS/2. Open32 is _really_ slow at a few tings (GetPixel()) for example, so it depends on the app.

Caveman: What if MS or 3rd party was relying on a bug in their original libraries?
Timur: Well, then it won't work
Peter: Since you're converting the original libs too,  the bug comes with it :)
Timur: Unless the bug is in Open32 or in our DLL's as well
Peter: Unless you are talking about bugs in the win32 api. 
Caveman: such a deal
Timur: pfitz: I think he is
Peter: In which case IBM has already programmed in the bugs they know about.
MADodel: Let's hope IBM codes as bad as Microsoft then
Peter: We are relying on our converter to supply major parts of the system --- for example,  winhlp32.exe, comdlg32.dll, and comctl32.dll. They will all be converted by you.

tandie: Q: what about apps requiring directx? how will they be ported over?
Timur: tandie: we'll need to port DirectX ourselves, I think. That might be too much work, and some of it, like dynamic resolution changes, might not even be possible.

DaBull: what category of appls are you initially testing . i.e. WP, spreadsheets, graphic, DB's, etc.?
Peter: Small apps.  notepad, solitaire,  sample apps we wrote or from the toolkit

Caveman: I'm sorry if this was already covered but what about games. By getting office working will this mean some games might convert as well?
Timur: Well, directx is the clincher.  It's a tough thing to convert, since it's device-specific. Again, we have no idea what will and what will be convertable, and when they will be convertable.
Caveman: I was thinking of Kali and Red Alert for 95
Peter: Games are not the target....
Caveman: I understand that, I was wondering whether the calls are similar at all.
Peter: But we won't go out of our way to break them.

nando2: OK: Is much of the 'graphics' api calls (the win32 equiv of GPI) already done in Open32?. I wonder if MGI's decision not to release PhotoSuite for OS/2 (on the app sampler CD) was because of buggy gfx support in Open32 or simply because IBM screwed up their commitments? (I'd like some of you to comment on this). (DON'T BOTHER with DirectX for me btw it's for games and I don't care and most business don't either :)
Peter: I did the PhotoSuite port. It was mainly because ibm screwed them
nando2: What a surprise. :) do you have a save-enabled ver then? :)
Peter: Yes,  probably the only one on the planet :)
nando2: highly illegal to distribute, but worth millions to OS/2 fans ;). OK thanks
Peter: nando2: if you send me the millions,  I'm sure I'll take the chance :)
nando2: (wonder if it could leak like Doom/2 or Quake/2 ;)
Peter: MGI knows the PhotoSuite would have been leaked by me -- that's why I can't do it. You can save stuff to the clipboard (in the demo version) and save it from another app.

PHS: Will PE2LX be (script) extensible in any way ? Let's say an EXE requires a certain NT-API which I could implement myself, could I integrate it into the whole Win32-OS/2 system or will I have to bug you ? :)
Timur: you'd have to bug us, because all the API's are in DLL's that we control. You can't just slap them into some random DLL, they have to be in the RIGHT dll.
PHS: Timur: I'm not talking about the DLLs since I could do the thunking, etc.. myself. Can I have PE2LX to "forward" the entries for me ?
Peter: There is a way around it. You can use a "forwarder entry"
Timur: you could use DosReplaceModule
PHS: So how do you map the Win32 imports to OS/2 imports where the DLL names do not match ?
Peter: You'd use FWDSTAMP on our dll to fwd it to yours
Timur: But we would prefer it if you let us incorporate the change into our DLL's
Peter: Even though open32 supplies many functions,  they are in the wrong dll -- as you just said -- and they also have a different calling convention, so all of the api's go through our dll's.

Barmaley: Timur: you said, a converted Windows compiler will generate OS/2 exe's. Just curious, how will you tell it to do so? Will you hook the disk access functions used by the Windows compiler and rebuild the generated file on the fly?
Timur: no, a converted windows compiler will generate windows exe's. Actually, the converted windows LINKER would generate the windows exe's

Dark: Will there be any serious changes to Windows 98 that could render the converter useless? Or, are those unknown at this moment?
Timur: useless? No. Win98 is just Win95 plus a dumb new shell and maybe some more API's. Until there are Win98-only apps out there, it should not be a problem.

nathana: One more Q... are you planning on releasing a beta version, or only a final version?
Peter: There will be a beta

PHS: You're working on the common controls ? Will you do a release (headers) for use in apps other than PE2LX ? I'd like to know whether I'll get neat toolbars, etc.. for my apps.
Peter: phs: those will be converted by you
PHS: pfitz: I meant whether I could use YOUR comctl32 for MY OS/2 apps :)
Timur: WE won't have a comctl32
Peter: No,  that probably won't work
PHS: Timur: Oh, I c. You have me to convert the original one...
Timur: YOU will make your own comctl32
Peter: phs: it's conceivable,  but not likely that you can use the converted dll's.

nando2: are there any other groups (maybe for unix?) working on some 'free win32 api' where you could get code/info from?. (or Win95 emulators?). (BTW: never do release source, it could help *nix platforms gain some advantage over OS/2 and none of us want it :)
Timur: There's nothing stopping us from looking at the source of WINE to learn how to implement an API that's not in Open32. Copying the code would violate the GPL. But it's not like anyone would notice.
Peter: Timur: I thought wine was a x86 emulator that runs the real win16 stuff?
Timur: pfitz: I think WINE is a Win32 emulator.
nathana: Timur: Actually, at this point, I think WINE is a Win16 emulator, with plans to do Win32 soon...

PHS: pfitz: According to the updated SMP.INF the current Warp Server 4 SMP Kernel has high-memory support. Although I guess it won't provide contiguous memory across the 512MB segment.
Peter: Right -- there is a gap we can't use...
Timur: Updated SMP.INF?!?!?!
Peter: MS word loads at 800mb,  which is outside the gap
PHS: Timur: smp.inf, 983712, 96/11/06 -- well updated ...

nando2: how big is the current package? (dlls and the exe converter)?
Timur: It could easily fit on a floppy
Peter: Zipped,  ~512k
nando2: that certainly makes it better than Java (at least to download <g>)




At this point the moderated Q&A session came to a close and the channel was opened up for "free-for-all" discussion. We did not log this portion of the event, however.

               * * *

(http://www.spectra.net/~fox/) Chris Wenham is a freelance web designer, writer and Englishman who now lives in Endicott, NY.  In the past he has written comedy, sci-fi, Pascal, Rexx, HTML and Gibberish.  He has been using OS/2 exclusively for the past 2 years.

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Readers' Choice Voting

The end of the year is upon us and it's time once again to cast your official votes for the best products and develoeprs in the OS/2 market.  Just use the on-line form at http://www.os2ezine.com/v2n12/vote.htm to make your selections for this year's "OS/2 e-Zine! Readers' Choice".

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Top Sellers Lists Disclaimer

Our "top sellers lists" represent sales figures compiled for OS/2 e-Zine! by (http://www.bmtmicro.com/) BMT Micro, Inc., (http://www.indelible-blue.com/) Indelible Blue, Inc., (http://www.os2store.com/) J3 Computer Technologies and (http://www.mensys.nl/indexuk.html) Mensys.  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.

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November's Top Selling Apps from BMT Micro

This	Last	Product			Developer
Month	Month		
1	1	InJoy			F/X Communications
2	3	PMMail			SouthSide Software
3	2	PMView			Peter Nielsen
4	4	ZOC			EmTec Innovative Software
5	--	Homepage Publisher	JBC
6	--	MoneyTree		Mount Baker Software
7	--	Inet.Mail		Hethmon Brothers
8	--	FM/2			BareBones Software
9	10	FTP Browser		Jason Rushton
10	5	ScreenSaver		Siegfried Hanisch
               * * *

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

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November's Top Selling Apps from Indelible Blue

This	Last	Product				Developer
Month	Month		
1	--	Smartsuite OS/2 Warp 4 Beta	Lotus
2	8	VisualAge Java Pro		IBM
3	5	Software Choice for OS/2 Warp	IBM
4	1	Hobbes CD-ROM			Walnut Creek
5	2	IBM AntiVirus			IBM
6	4	BackMaster			MSR Development
7	--	QuickMotion			Practice Corporation
8	6	Unite CD Maker			Cirrus
9	7	Partition Magic			PowerQuest
10	--	Escape GL			Snowstorm Software
11	--	GammaTech Utilities		SofTouch Systems
12	10	FaxWorks Pro v3			Keller Group Inc.
13	--	The Graham Utilities		Warpspeed Computers
14 (tie)	3	BackAgain/2 Pro			Computer Data Strategies
14 (tie)	--	UniMaint				SofTouch Systems
15 (tie)	15	OS/2 Essentials			Stardock Systems
15 (tie)	--	TalkThru				Software Corp of Amercia
               * * *

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

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

November's Top Selling Apps from J3

This	Last	Product				Developer
Month	Month		
1	--	Smartsuite OS/2 Warp 4 Beta	Lotus
2	1	ColorWorks V2			SPG
3	--	ELSA Winner 3000-L		ELSA
4	2	VisualAge for Java Professional	IBM
5	--	Sibyl v2				SpeedSoft
6	7	FaxWorks Pro v3 UG		Keller Group Inc.
7	--	Getting to Know OS/2 Warp 4 [Book]
8	--	Partition Magic			PowerQuest
9	--	PalmPilot Pro			3Com
10	10	BitStream Font CD			BitStream
               * * *

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

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

November's Top Selling Apps from Mensys

This	Last	Product				Developer
Month	Month		
1	--	Smartsuite OS/2 Warp 4 Beta	Lotus
2	4	Partition Magic			PowerQuest
3	2	DriveImage			PowerQuest
4	--	IBM Antivirus Desktop		IBM
5	5	DriveImage Professional		PowerQuest
6	6	System Commander			V-Communications   
7	--	Links Golf for OS/2		Stardock Systems
8	--	OS/2 Warp V4 US Upgrade		IBM
9	8	Object Desktop			Stardock Systems
10	--	Galactic Civilizations II		Stardock Systems
               * * *

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

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

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

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

(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.

(http://www.sundialsystems.com/) Sundial Systems Corporation
Productivity applications:  Relish - time management; Mesa 2 - spreadsheet; Clearlook - word processor; DBExpert - database.

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Copyright 1997   -   Falcon Networking
ISSN 1203-5696