netlabs.org has published biweekly newsletter #120 to update everyone on their latest developments. Recent updates include 4OS2, Java, QT4, Samba, UniAud, and more. You can sponsor netlabs.org, which helps fund development on various projects. From VOICE News.

UniAud versions 1.9.24 and 2.1.1 have been updated (8/13/2010); in these releases, the driver code is based on ALSA 1.0.21 and 1.0.23, respectively. This is based on the GPL ALSA Project from Linux and provides drivers for various sound chipsets, including HDA, AC97, and PCI cards. Note that there are some known problems with the 2.1.x series, such as "pops" at the end of WAV files. In addition, the cause of repeating system sounds has been found to be a bug in IBM's SND.DLL, and a workaround created.

eComStation.Ru is collecting information about barebone computers, notebooks, and servers that work with OS/2. From VOICE News.

Thunderbird version 3.1.2 has been released (8/3/2010). Thunderbird is a mail / news client, based on Mozilla code. There is also a build of Lightning, which adds calendar support. See my Warpzilla tips page for more information.

An official build of Firefox version 3.6.8 has been released (7/24/2010). As with previous 3.x builds, there are some known issues (particularly with printing); Java support is also no longer available. See my Warpzilla tips page for more information.

Official builds of Seamonkey version 2.0.6, Firefox version 3.5.11, and Thunderbird version 3.0.6 have been released (7/21/2010). SeaMonkey is a continuation of the Mozilla Suite, and now features addon management, HTML 5 audio and video, tabbed mail, and more. Firefox is a stand-alone browser, based on Mozilla code. Thunderbird is a mail / news client, based on Mozilla code; the 3.0.x build includes the Lightning extension, which adds calendar support. See my Warpzilla tips page for more information.

Dave Yeo has released (7/11/2010) an OS/2 build of Seamonkey 2.1 alpha 2, which features support for the new "webm" video format, and a few OS/2-specific improvements. SeaMonkey is a continuation of the Mozilla Suite, and now features addon management, HTML 5 audio and video, tabbed mail, and more. See my Warpzilla tips page for more information.

A concerned reader pointed out that the "Web of Trust" has some poor ratings for os2bbs.com, and a few other OS/2 sites. You can help change this by providing your own ratings.

eComstation.ru has listings of interviews with various OS/2 developers over the last few years; the most recent addition is an interview with Alex Taylor, who is one of the core developers of eComstation. From VOICE News.

eCo Software is working on a new File Open Dialog, and encourages developers to try out the library and samples. eComstation subscribers can try out a beta version on the Beta Zone. From VOICE News.

Dave Yeo has released (6/27/2010) a test build of Firefox 3.7a6pre, which features support for the new "webm" video format, and Rich Walsh's earlier patches: scrolling should require 25-50% less CPU usage than previously; less memory use for new tabs; users of Matrox video drivers should see a normal display; FlashBlock will no longer show a floating rectangle.

Silvan Scherrer has started a netlabs.org project to port the latest Java to OS/2. Previously, Java has been made available by IBM, Golden Code, and Innotek. However, none of those companies have kept current, and many Java apps can no longer be run on OS/2. Dmitry Kumenov, who is well-known for his work on the Qt 3 and 4 ports, has been hired as chief developer. Funding is being provided by Mensys and other interested parties. It appears that the plan is to use Odin as a wrapper for the Win32 version of Java, as was done for the Innotek releases. A release is scheduled to be available by the end of the year. From VOICE News.

InfoWorld has an article on "tech cults," and the section on OS/2 mentions Warpstock. Warpstock 2010 will be held at the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, August 6th through 8th. There is a call for speakers to present on topics related to OS/2 and eComStation; submit your presentation ideas to presenters(at)warpstock(dot)org. Your proposal should contain a title and one paragraph synopsis of the topic to be presented. A range of registration options from $115 to $435 are available, with a deadline of June 30. The Warpstock 2010 logo can be displayed on other web sites to help publicity. Note that a passport is now required to travel between the USA and Canada. Thanks to Andy Willis for the info.

Greggory Shaw has a Soundcard Database where users can share their experiences with the UniAud drivers and various sound cards and chipsets.

OpenWatcom 1.9 has been released (6/5/2010), and includes an OS/2 installer. This is an open source release of the Watcom C, C++, and Fortran compilers. It now includes wipfc, an open source tool for generating OS/2 help files, intended to replace the buggy IBM tool that is no longer developed. Michal Necasek has an article describing how to set up an older version of Watcom, much of which is still applicable.

The ofb.biz site has an overview of the eComstation release; it's more of a "what markets this will fit in" opinion article than a review. From VOICE News.

lyrics version 0.2 has been ported (8/27/2010) to OS/2. This Qt4 app downloads lyrics to songs.

Lucide version 1.3.3 beta has been released (8/26/2010); this is a multi-purpose document viewer, using plugins for different formats. It currently supports PDF, DjVu documents, and JPEG files; additional formats can be added by third party programmers. The program is now open source, and distributed under the CDDL and LGPL.

umix version 0.2 has been released (8/26/2010). This is another PM mixer for UniAud, that supports configuration files for matching up the mixer lines.

drss version 0.3.5 has been ported (8/26/2010) to OS/2. This Qt4 app is an RSS newsfeed aggregator.

MyIP version 0.3 has been released (8/26/2010). This is a simple utility for querying the current system's IP address as seen from the Internet.

Paul Smedley has released (8/25/2010) an OS/2 port of MySQL version 5.1.50. The MySQL database server is the world's most widely used open source database. The OS/2 port features named pipes, data replication, >2GB databases, and more. There is a mailing list for discussion.

NASM version 2.09 (8/24/2010) has been released. The NASM assembler has support for X86 multimedia extensions, and supports a various number of object formats, including the old .obj format of the Borland compilers.

Wally version 2.4 has been ported (8/24/2010) to OS/2. This Qt4 app is for changing you desktop wallpaper, using mutliple sources including Internet sites. From VOICE News.

EmperoarTV version 2.05d has been released (8/23/2010). This software brings support for many DVB cards, as well as the Hauppauge PVR150/250/350/500 TV cards to the OS/2 platform, including high quality MPEG2 hard disk recording and playback. You can listen to FM radio programs in stereo, watch TV programs in excellent image quality, and more. Also available is DVDFront, a front end that simplifies the creation of video DVDs out of recordings made by EmperoarTV. It supports both WarpOverlay and SNAP overlays. There is an online forum for discussion as well.

eMozPrint version 1.70T has been released (8/23/2010). This utility scans the desktop for PDF files created by Firefox, Thunderbird or Seamonkey, and prints the files automatically or offers a dialog to print them, using Ghostscript. From OS2.org.

DejaVu fonts version 2.32 have been released (8/22/2010). This is a font family based on the Bitstream Vera Fonts, which provides support for a wide range of Unicode characters.

pdlzip version 1.1 has been ported (8/21/2010) to OS/2. This is a public domain lossless file compressor that is almost as fast as gzip, and compresses better than bzip2. Also available are clzip version 1.0 and lzip version 1.11rc4, a C version and the original C++ version of the code, respectively.

SmartSVN version 6.6 has been released (8/20/2010). This is a Java Subversion GUI client, with features like built-in File Compare/Merge, Change Report or Tag and Branch handling, and more. It requires Java 1.4.1 or higher.

Capitalism version 0.5 has been ported (8/20/2010) to OS/2. This Qt4 app allows you to play online Monopoly like games with other players.

Binary GetyourNews version 1.1.05 has been released (8/20/2010). This is a newsgroup attachment downloader, based on GetyourNews Version 2.16.2, with header filtering and a few other improvements.

dos2unix and unix2dos version 5.1.1 have been released (8/18/2010). These command line tools convert plain text files from/to DOS and UNIX formats. From VOICE News.

LAME version 3.98.4 has been ported (8/16/2010) to OS/2. LAME is an MP3 encoder, and includes a graphical frame analyzer.

The Samba server version 3.3.13 (labeled version 1.1.0) has been ported (8/15/2010) to OS/2. Also available (7/6/2010) is version 3.0.37 (labeled version 1.0.5). This allows you to share your files without the need of NetBIOS (IBM LAN Manager or IBM Peer).

Larsen Commander version 1.07.02 has been released (8/15/2010). This is a nice GUI Norton Commander clone with many features. There is also a mailing list available. The latest version can be found on Hobbes.

Arora version 0.10.2-301487d has been ported (8/15/2010) to OS/2. This is a simple WebKit-based web browser, which uses the QT4 libraries.