Unofficial builds of SeaMonkey version 2.7 and Firefox version 10.0 have been released (1/30 and 1/31). The biggest change is that most addons will remain compatible by default, which has been one of the annoyances with the rapid releases. There are some important notes in the readme file concerning Java, printing, profile compatibility, and crash reporting, so be sure to read through it. Highlights include DIVE support for accelerated drawing, full-featured native printing, Exceptq can be used to log crash details, plus most of the features available on other platforms, such as WebM video playback for sites like YouTube. WebGL is one feature that is missing, due to lack of hardware support. IPC support (which offers plugin crash protection, and will protect tabs from each other in the future) is not yet available, although progress is being made in that area. SeaMonkey is a continuation of the Mozilla Suite, while Firefox is a stand-alone browser based on Mozilla code. See my Warpzilla Tips page for more information.
Paul Smedley's project to investigate support for HP scanners using the HPLIP driver with SANE has begun, thanks to donations that allowed him to purchase an HP Photosmart 7510. He has set up a Twitter feed for anyone who wishes to follow the development status. From VOICE News.
eComStation.Ru is running a poll asking how hard it is for you to deal with programs packaged using RPM. From VOICE News.
netlabs.org has published biweekly newsletter #157 to update everyone on their latest developments. Recent updates include ACPI, Dynamic Windows Library, Java, Lucide, Odin32, QT4, UniAud, and more. You can sponsor netlabs.org, which helps fund development on various projects. From VOICE News.
Some miscellaneous notes: A new release of Odin (version 0.8.3) is due out soon, to fix some memory allocation problems that surfaced from the compiler switch. Perhaps a new release of the Flash 10 wrapper will also come soon; there has been some activity on that recently as well.
Les Bell has released his course material "Introduction to OS/2 Warp Programming" under the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. This course material contains the instructor guide, student guide, presentation slides and laboratory files. This material was originally used for 5 days of corporate training, and covers things such as memory management, threads, IPC, file systems, dialogs, GPI, SOM, and WPS. From VOICE News.
eComStation.Ru is collecting information about which Lenovo ThinkPads work with OS/2. From VOICE News.
A bit of a slow news week, which means I get to ramble about stuff... LibreOffice 3.4.5 and 3.5.0 RC1 came out for "tier 1" platforms, while OpenOffice is still "incubating" / mostly dead. OpenJDK 6 build b24 and 7u2 build b13 were released last November; hopefully we will see an update to the OS/2 port, although a browser plugin is probably more interesting. Qt 4.8 came out in December, and Qt 5 is on the way. Keeping these projects current is obviously no small task...
Adrian Gschwend posted some thoughts on the netlabs.org blog; the gist of it is that he is happy to maintain the status quo for hosting projects using Subversion and Trac, but recommends people interested in other systems look elsewhere, such as GitHub. He also hints that the netlabs.org website may go through another change due to other projects he is working on; the last big change was a disaster for the OS/2 projects hosted there, so hopefully the ones that managed to switch to Trac will not be affected again. From VOICE News.
eComStation.Ru is collecting information about computers that work with the new ACPI drivers. From VOICE News.
Odin32 version 0.8.2 has been released (12/30/2011); it is available in both ZIP and RPM formats. Odin32 can be used to run and/or build Win32 applications for OS/2, and is based on WINE and IBM's Open32. Recent work has been done as part of the efforts on supporting newer versions of Java; the biggest recent changes are switching compilers from VAC3 to GCC4, and improving support for Flash.
An unofficial build of Thunderbird version 9.0 has been released (12/28/2011). Thunderbird is a stand-alone mail/news client, based on Mozilla code. See my Warpzilla Tips page for more information.
Greggory Shaw reports that the recent release of VirtualBox 4.1.8 (for other platforms) has an important USB bugfix for running OS/2 as a guest platform. He has a detailed guide for installing eComStation 2.1 in VirtualBox, with widescreen support.
EDM/2 (Electronic Developer Magazine/2) has been reorganized, with the articles getting categorized, the wiki skin getting updated, and some additional articles added to the site. As a wiki, it is possible for everyone to add or edit articles. Thanks to Martin Iturbide for the info.
Mensys has published a new eComStation Newsletter; mentioned are the Odin update, a pending Flash plugin update, Samba updates, a future OpenOffice.org 3.4 release, a pending overhaul of the ACPI drivers, and PM Backup Suite.
eComStation.RU is attempting the e-ball Awards again for 2011, after it flopped last year. They are still accepting nominations in several categories, ranging from best application, to best website, to best technical article. From VOICE News.
Question of the Week for OS/2 and eComStation has launched. Submitted questions will be displayed for one week, for the world to see and comment on. From VOICE News.
eComstation.ru has a eComStation 3.0 wishlist, with wishes like USB CDROM support active by default, PDF printer installed by default, and more. From VOICE News.
eComstation.ru has listings of interviews with various OS/2 developers over the last few years; the most recent addition is a Q&A by Eugene Gorbunoff, who does evangelism for eComStation.Ru. From VOICE News.
The OpenJDK for OS/2 project finally reached its original funding goal. There is now a new goal for additional funding, which will be used to fund a new release that includes browser plugin support; you can help by sponsoring units via Mensys. From OS2World.
Alex Taylor has documented a procedure for using Ghostscript as a printer driver for seamless printing. This is useful for printers which are supported by Ghostscript, but not by either OS/2 itself or other CUPS-based drivers; apparently, a lot of Japanese-market Epson printers fall into this category.
LibreOffice 3.4.4 was recently released for the "tier 1" platforms, with version 3.4.5 scheduled for February. After the news broke that legacy OS/2 code was removed, Mensys reported that there would be no OS/2 version, which is unfortunate. The OS/2 code is still present in Apache's OpenOffice, and there are plans to update to the latest version "fairly soon," perhaps even with some Java integration. Unfortunately, OpenOffice is largely irrelevant now, with everyone switching to LibreOffice, except for IBM (who is only interested in Lotus Symphony). Thanks to Philip Griffin-Allwood for pointing out that Apache is still trying to reach out to the community.
eComstation.ru is collecting ideas for future versions of eComStation. They also have listings of OS/2 based solutions and companies that you can contribute to; recent additions include USPS and Universal Instruments.
eComStation.Ru has started the "eCo Labs" project to accumulate ideas for development projects. They also have a forum discussing what would make for a Perfect eComStation, and a place to list wishes for new apps. From VOICE News.
The GL/2 project has been scrapped, in favor of more sensible (but still labor-intensive) goals. Current goals are to port a newer version of Mesa3D for use with SNAP Graphics, implement PGL on top of SNAP and MGL, and interface with GRADD. IBM developed the PGL interface as an analog to WGL on Windows and GLX on Linux; it's what provides native windowing support, and was used in native OpenGL applications like GLCube. It's unlikely that a single developer can achieve these goals, but they make a lot more sense than the previous goals of the GL/2 project (which included impossible things like replacing the entire OS/2 video subsystem).
Qt version 4.7.3 has been ported (9/15/2011) to OS/2. This is a cross-platform application and UI framework. Applications that use QT include VLC, SMPlayer, VirtualBox, Psi, Scribus, and LyX. The QT4 runtime libraries and plugins are necessary for running programs built with the QT4 library. Highlights include printing support through CUPS, drawing using SNAP or DIVE, support for WebKit including SSL, and context sensitive help. Development is funded by donations from the community; sponsor units can be purchased from the Mensys online shop. This release is available in ZIP and RPM formats; previous versions must be uninstalled first. It is binary compatible with applications previously built with the 4.6.3 release.
Craig Miller has posted a review of eCo Market on his BlueNexus web site. This program is for browsing and downloading some of the available software.
Official builds of Firefox version 3.6.20 and Thunderbird version 3.1.12 have been released (8/19/2011). As with previous 3.x Firefox builds, there are some known issues (particularly with printing); Java support is also no longer available. There is a build of Lightning for Thunderbird 3.1.x, which adds calendar support. See my Warpzilla tips page for more information.
Craig Miller has posted reviews of BioGraph 1.3 and Trials of Battle on his BlueNexus web site. The former is for displaying biorhythm information, and the latter was a game published by Stardock.
eComStation.RU site is collecting links to books related to IBM OS/2 Warp, eComStation, and REXX. They are also collecting fan photos, with an obvious preference for female fans. From VOICE News.
Mensys has licensed the SNAP Graphics for OS/2 source code from Alt Richmond Inc., the company that bought the SciTech SNAP technology. Roderick Klein has posted further comments on the short term plans, which unfortunately only involve improvements to the generic (hardware unaccelerated) VESA support, including integration of the VESA BIOS widescreen enablers, and improvements for ACPI and SMP. Unless they can add hardware accelerated drivers for graphics chipsets that have come out since SNAP development discontinued in 2006, it's not going to be much more useful than it already is.
Paul Smedley has created (7/22/2011) a test build of UniAud32, based on ALSA 1.0.24. This is based on the GPL ALSA Project from Linux and provides drivers for various sound chipsets, including HDA, AC97, and PCI cards, and is meant be used with an existing install of UniAud.
Craig Miller has posted a review of Stardock's OS/2 Essentials 2.0 on his BlueNexus web site. There's nothing that really remains "essential" in this collection, but downloads are available in the review. I remember buying this at a CompUSA store; they actually had a small section of OS/2 software.
Martin Iturbide has posted some suggested guidelines for driver arguments on EDM/2. It's mainly the straightforward "/Q for quiet, /V for verbose" options, but as a Wiki it can be easily enhanced by anyone who wishes to do so.
The netlabs.org project to port Java to OS/2 has released (6/27/2011) a GA build of OpenJDK 1.6.0-b22. Both SDK and JRE packages are available to compile and run Java applications, including GUI applications that use AWT and Swing. It uses the Odin32 runtime libraries; future updates should include browser plugins and OpenOffice support. The project is still short on funding; you can help by sponsoring units via Mensys. There is a listing of Java applications known to work, and a gallery of screenshots.
Craig Miller has posted reviews of WarpNote 1.93, SearchPlus 2.0, and Vigilance on Talos V on his BlueNexus web site. WarpNote is a "yellow sticky note" application, SearchPlus is compared with PMSEEK 2.0, as shipped with eComStation, and Vigilance on Talos V is a side scrolling Metroid-style game.
NetRexx has been open sourced, and will now be managed by the Rexx Language Association, like Object Rexx before it. Since this is Java-based, it's more likely that it will continue to function on OS/2, unlike Object Rexx. From OS2World.
eCoTVstation posted post-Warpstock interviews with Roderick Klein on YouTube, in which things like Warpstock sessions, future versions of eComStation, and NLV translations are discussed. Another video looks at the final day of Warpstock Europe 2011. Also, Keith Merrington was interviewed at Warpstock Europe; he talks about the programs he has written, as well as the community. They have multiple videos on YouTube of "eComstation artifacts" (all with Russian audio): 2011/06, 2011/05, and 2011/03. They also have a gallery of boxes, CDs, and miscellanea, and another gallery of old OS/2 software catalogs from Indelible Blue and Mensys. From VOICE News.
eComStation 2.1 was released at Warpstock Europe 2011. It is available for purchase from Mensys or various resellers, in "Home & Student", "Business", and "Server" editions, and includes OpenOffice.org. The Business edition is required if you need more than 5 licenses, and the Server edition adds the Warp Server for eBusiness components. The ISO files can be downloaded by those with an active eComStation Software Subscription, and it works with a valid eCS 2.0 key. The media kit includes a printed, 72 page Quick Install Manual, and 3 CDs. CD 1 Is the install CD, CD 2 contains bonus applications, and CD 3 is OpenOffice 3.2. There is a complete list of what's new, including: Airboot to replace the IBM Boot Manager (though if BM is installed it can be used); new graphical disk checker for install; new AHCI driver based on DaniS506; Firefox 4.0 will be included; new File Open Container will be an option (not default); new MultiMac network driver included; and new CPU throttling utility for better battery life. eComStation 3.0 was also discussed, which will include an updated version of the Panorama video driver, an update to the USB stack, updated ACPI driver, the eCUPs printer driver, more new MultiMac network driver support (including Intel wireless chipsets), and Flash 10 and Java browser plugins. In addition, Mensys has recently renewed their OEM contract with IBM through 2014 (this was the 3rd contract renewal), and they seemed reasonably sure that further renewals will continue. There was a three fold increase of new eCS licenses being sold in 2010 over 2009, and this trend is continuing into 2011; several major companies were mentioned, including the US Postal Service and Iridium Phone Communications. Thanks to Joachim Benjamins, "The Captain", and VOICE News for the info.
Warpstock Europe 2011 was hosted by Mensys this year, so they had a strong presence. There is a short video interview with Roderick Klein serving as a short preview, and a recording of the opening session, featuring Gerritt Schoenmaker and Menso de Jong. Alex Taylor was also interviewed there; he talks about installation methods, user interfaces, and fonts. There is also a gallery of pictures from the event. From VOICE News.
Craig Miller has posted reviews of FireFox 4, FTPBrowser, PMINews 2.0 and GTIRC on his BlueNexus web site.
There was a status update on the OSFree project posted on the OS2World forums. The project to implement an OS/2 personality on a L4 kernel is slowly making progress.
UniAud versions 1.9.26 and 2.1.3 have been released (4/14/2011) on netlabs.org FTP; 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.
The OS/2 Museum is a blog "devoted to the history of OS/2 and random aspects of PC software and hardware history, with emphasis on the 1987-1997 period." There are overviews, including screenshots, of the versions of OS/2, including the PPC version, up through Warp 4.
The OS2World Bounty System lists several projects that developers can get paid for; the bounties for Java 6 and VLC are being paid. Users can help by sponsoring money to encourage development on the projects that are of interest to them. Open bounties include improving the icon routines in OS/2, porting VirtualBox, and many more.
NatteFrost has accumulated reference information about different versions of OpenGL that have been available for OS/2, which could be helpful to other developers. From VOICE News.
Craig Miller has posted reviews of SysInfo/2, PMView Pro, Entrepeneur, Hopkins FBI, SimCity, and SimCity 2000 on his BlueNexus web site. The games are also available for download from their respective review pages. He has new software reviews approximately every two weeks; previously he covered CUPS, OpenTyrian, Gotcha!, Links for OS/2, and the generic Win16 audio drivers.
Martin Iturbide wrote a retrospective article on the OS/2 events of 2010.
OpenOffice version 3.2.0 has been released (10/27/2010) for OS/2, and is available to subscribers of the OpenOffice.org Support Agreement, via login at the Mensys online shop. It features mouse wheel support, support for the Innotek FontEngine, and more. It does not support Java, which means that the database component is not fully functional. The source code is available under the LGPL license from Oracle. Support for the OS/2 version can be obtained through the ticketing system, and there is also a newsgroup available. Version 1.0.3 of the WPS integration package is also available; it extends the WPS data file class to recognize OpenOffice.org document files, has integrated support for WPS-Wizard hint and folder info area, and provides Rexx hooks for reading document properties. Thanks to Joachim Benjamins for the info.
The sNOa Game Pack is now free; a registration key can be found on the download page. The games included are Sunny Pills, Deathmorozes, Operation Warp, Operation Warp II, MARS!, Tie Revenge, and Xonix. The source code for Sunny Pills is also available.
Mensys has released a "Technology Preview 2" version of Flash 10 for Software Subscription customers, which requires eComstation 1.2 or higher. This release supports proper rendering of text elements and keyboard input now works. Thanks to Joachim Benjamins for the info.
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.
Silvan Scherrer has started a netlabs.org project to port the latest VirtualBox to OS/2. VirtualBox is a feature rich, high performance virtualization product, and is the only professional solution that is open source. Earlier versions of VirtualBox have been ported to OS/2, but those efforts were suspended due to technical problems, and the lack of the Qt4 library. With the Qt4 library and the latest GCC compiler available, there is already some initial success; the support driver works and a DOS guest can be booted. A team of several developers will work on the project and funding will be provided by the community; you can contribute by buying sponsor units from Mensys. From VOICE News.
VMware now supports eComStation 1.2R on VMware vSphere 4.0 Update 1; support does not include VMware Tools. It is also listed in the VMware Compatibility Guide. From VOICE News.
Martin Iturbide has set up a wiki listing the last updates available for OS/2 Warp 4.52. If you see that he has missed any IBM fixpack, APAR, or driver (public or not), let him know. From VOICE News.
eComStation.Ru is creating a list of "eComStation Essentials" - small utilities and applications, which are not included with eComStation, but should be installed on every PC. From VOICE News.
There is documentation on Hobbes detailing how to install eCS 2.0 on the ASUS EeePC 701 netbook; the package includes some necessary WiFi drivers. Also, Yuri Dario managed to install eCS 2.0 on a Asus EeePC 900, and shared his experience. There are various videos on YouTube showing OS/2 and eComstation running on the Asus EEE PC netbooks. From VOICE News.
The eCo Software Developer Connection has some new info, including new control elements, which include a "vivid" listbox and an about dialog. There are updates to the eCo Software runtime, and the eCo Software Toolkit should be updated soon. There are also reference books, useful links, and more for professional developers. Thanks to Eugene Gorbunoff for the info.
The Simple DirectMedia Layer version 1.2.10 OS/2 port has been updated (8/4/2008). This is a cross-platform multimedia library designed to provide low level access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick, and 2D video framebuffer. It is used by MPEG playback software, emulators, and many popular games. The SDL/2 package includes the following libraries: SDL 1.2.10, SDL_mixer 1.2.6, SDL_image 1.2.5, SDL_gfx 2.0.13, SDL_net 1.2.5, and SDL_ttf 2.0.7. The latest build is on netlabs.org FTP, and offers a VMAN fallback mode, in addition to the default accelerated SNAP Graphics mode.
The July issue of the VOICE newsletter has been published, which covers VBox/2, Feature Install, virtual memory problems, multilingual character sets, Usenet advocacy, Developers Workshop, and more. There is a Newsletter Master Index and Search Function for finding things in back issues.
The SciTech SNAP Graphics products are no longer being actively developed, and there is a free registration code you can use. SciTech SNAP Graphics is a "universal" video driver, with support for over 240 graphics chipsets, with extra features like zooming, multihead, video overlays for some chipsets, software OpenGL 1.5 support, and more.
James Bell, author of MidiLab/2, the original MIDI sequencer for OS/2, has posted all the material associated with the program on his web site. There are both binary and source downloads available; anyone interested can pick up further development of the project.
The OS/2 and USB page has been updated with additional info on cameras, printers, storage, multimedia, cards, mice, and more. Be sure to check it out if you are using USB devices. Thanks to Martin Iturbide for the news.
eCo Software has released the "Panorama" video driver, which features support for older Radeon chipsets (pre-R300, i.e. those with a number below 9500). Thanks to Eugene Gorbunoff for the info.
There are timezone updates available for eClock, Java 1.3.1, and Java 1.4.2. For other apps, including GoldenCode Java, you can update your TZ variable manually, by appending or modifying it with the new daylight savings string "3,2,0,7200,11,1,0,7200,3600" - this translates to "March, second week, Sunday, 2:00AM, November, first week, Sunday, 2:00AM, 1 hour adjustment". Thanks to cytan and Maynard for the info.
There's a wiki article discussing How to Boot OS/2 from USB. From OS2.org.
The OS/2 Java Corner has been updated with new info. It contains over 180 Java applications (and some applets), each with a short description and its url, and sorted into categories. All applications have been reported to run well with IBM Java 1.1.8 or 1.3.1, or Innotek's port of Sun Java 1.4.2. Click the Java icon at the top of the page to see a list of the most recent updates. Thanks to Roger Henson for the news.
Martin Iturbide has migrated The Config.sys Documentation Project to a wiki on the EDM2 web site; this will allow for more people to easily contribute to it.
Martin Iturbide has migrated the Warp Wishlist onto the netlabs.org Wiki, which makes it easier for everyone to contribute to it. This is a list of operating system and application enhancements that current eComStation and OS/2 users believe are worth paying for.
Opera 5.12 for OS/2 was released back in 2002. Since then, the browser has become free. You can register and turn off the ads by using this registration code: v-ucebm-WmRrz-WnifM-ezWsJ-WFTyb
Mensys has updated their Hobbes DVD, which contains over 4 GB of software from the Hobbes file archive. Long-time OS/2 users may recall that there was once a Walnut Creek Hobbes CD. The DVD from Mensys offers a convenient web interface, which can be either used to browse the contents or search for a specific file. Of each DVD sold, Mensys will transfer 2 Euro to the New Mexico State University to support the Hobbes server. From VOICE News.
www.RexxInfo.org is a comprehensive new web site covering Rexx, with free downloads, tools,
reference, manuals, and how-to's. From VOICE News.
Sander Nyman reports that he has discovered why Duxshelf has stopped working for many people. The Styler/2 option "Use Styler/2 font," which can be used to replace system fonts with Warpsans (or another font), appears to make Duxshelf crash. You can fix this by adding DUX.EXE to the "Exceptions list" for the font replacement feature.
The winners of the 5th Annual OS2World Awards have been announced. Winners are: Best Commercial Software - DFSee; Best Individual Software - Genmac NIC Driver; Best JAVA Application - Jeti/2; Best PHP Application - phpMyAdmin; Best Site - os2voice.org; Best Supporting Company - SciTech Software; Best Unix Port - LIBC/GCC; Honor Award for Individuals - Paul Smedley.
An eComStation demo CD has been released. It is a "Live CD" that can be booted directly on a system, without anything getting installed. It can be downloaded as an ISO image, or you can purchase it for a nominal fee. It will be published in more languages in the future. There is now a review of it. From VOICE News.
Sander Nyman reports that on October 5th, Symantec discontinued support for the OS/2 version of Norton AntiVirus. However, the Linux virus signatures are identical, and can still be used. You can delete the extra Linux files (3 *.so files, and navuplin.dis); the 2 OS/2 DLL files (NAVEXO2A.DLL and NAVENGO2.DLL) are copied to the new VIRUSDEF folder automatically by Live Update. NAV Live Update can also be fixed by editing NAVLUOS2.INI as follows:
[NAVLUOS2] PacketName=ftp://update.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/antivirus_definitions/symantec_antivirus_corp/rapidrelease/ennlu.lin UserName=anonymous Password=email@address.com
The PCI Soundcard Matrix has been updated with additional information. There is also another PCI sound card compatibility listing hosted by OS2World. Thanks to Martin Iturbide for the news.
Martin Iturbide has started a nice Wiki listing various MMOS2 Related Projects.
IBM now has an online "Library Server" where you can find a lot of information on OS/2 APIs. For example, searching for "Presentation Manager" gives you links to a number of programming guides and references.
IBM has officially announced that they will stop selling OS/2 on December 23, 2005, and withdraw support on December 31, 2006. Further details indicate that support after December 31, 2006 will be available for a fee through Service Extensions or Total Content Ownership contracts. There are no plans for any Java 1.3.1 updates (obsoleted by the GoldenCode and Innotek Java offerings), IBM Web Browser updates (obsoleted by Mozilla), or new FixPaks. No new device drivers will be provided after this year. From VOICE News.
Bob St.John has said that this will have no effect on eComstation. The product plan is to sell it through at least mid-2007. "eComStation will remain available as long as it is a good business. There is no end in sight." Esther Schindler has an opinion article discussing the OS/2 community, and how it hasn't depended on IBM for years. The Inquirer also ran an article recently pointing out how much of the OS/2 hardware support these days isn't coming from IBM. There have been a couple Ubersoft comic strips about the announcement.
Martin Iturbide reports that there was wide coverage by the press: Slashdot, The Register, OSNews, The Inquirer, Red Herring, Tom's Hardware Guide, PC World, ZDNet UK, NewsForge, WebProNews, WebProNews (2), Softpedia, ATM Workplace, Neoseeker, DesignTechnica, Monsters and Critics, SearchDomino, WebIndia123, BetaNews, CNet News, ZDNet, and eWeek.
WarpOverlay version 1.10 has been released (4/18/2005) as open source. This successor to HW EnDIVE provides hardware-based video overlay support on top of the SciTech GRADD drivers. This no longer uses DIVE, so it only works on applications that use its API, such as WarpVision. For what it's worth, it was quite easy to add support for my Radeon X600.
Tonigy is now free for non-commercial purposes; a registration key is available. Tonigy is an IFS that maps tracks of Audio CD into WAV or RAW files, tracks of Video CD into MPG files and tracks of Data CD into ISO files. From OS2World.
There is a new QEMU forum on running OS/2. QEMU is a virtual machine for running x86 OSes, that runs on Linux, FreeBSD, Windows, and MacOS. They need more developers to help improve the OS/2
guest support. Thanks to "ecs user" for the info.
The latest "testcase" kernels (revision 14.103a and later) at last feature proper support for Athlon64 and Pentium4 systems with more than 512MB of RAM. Previous versions would crash in testcfg.sys or apm.sys, unless you used Veit Kannegeiser's APMAA64.SYS.
IBM has released (2/28/2005) Convenience Pak FixPak 5. Downloading requires a Passport Advantage subscription; eCS customers can get it from the eComstation site. The majority of changes in it have already been available via IBM's testcase FTP server (kernel updates, and HPFS and JFS fixes). Thanks to Achain for the info.
Smartsuite 1.7.3 was recently made available to eComstation "Upgrade Protection" subscribers. IBM has published a list of fixes. It's also available from IBM, by calling 1-800-465-6887. From VOICE News.
The modem settings information page has been updated. Thanks to Martin Iturbide for the news.
Four months after announcing it, Golden Code has finally made their port of Java 1.4.1_07 available for purchase to endusers. It is priced at $42; customers requiring more than 10 seats are requested to contact Golden Code Development directly for volume discount information. It includes a plugin for use with Mozilla (including GCC builds). This is a native port, as opposed to the Odin port from Innotek, and features many improvements over the previous release. For German customers, Juergen Ulbts is organizing a group purchase, contact him if you are interested.
The first alpha version of a Firewire driver (IEEE 1394a) has been released (8/6/2004). This version does not yet enable you to use any devices, but it will show if your Firewire controller is recognized; those based on the VIA
VT6306 chipset are supported, and it should also work with other OHCI compatible controllers. From VOICE News.
The OS/2 Config.Sys editor, Tyra/2, is now available for free (Username: Freeware; Key: 788818476). The source code will be open sourced after removing the registration code. The CSDP (Config.Sys Documentation Project) and Tyra/2 will be given to the Team OS/2 Hamburg e.V. to maintain. Thanks to Joerg Sievers for the news.
Felix Miata has an excellent FAQ on disk partitioning. From VOICE News.
The OS/2 Compatible Hardware List has been updated, and now has over 1600 compatible printers listed. Minor changes to the other device types have also been made. There has also been an update to the PCMCIA Socket Chipsets Matrix. Thanks to Jonas Buys for the info.
The latest "testcase" OS/2 kernels (14.097d and above) have a new experimental feature, that allows loading parts of DLLs above the 512MB line. "Any DLL objects that do not need to be called by (for code) or addressed by (for data) 16 bit code can be moved out of the low shared arena... this is the place that most often runs out of room, causing sys0008 and similar." Scott Garfinkle gave an example that "saved nearly 11mb of shared memory address space" on his test system:
EXEHDR /HIGHMEM MMPARTS.DLL EXEHDR /HIGHMEM:1 xx.dllwhere xx is every DLL in mozilla and mozilla/components except npoji6.dll (the Java plugin). Note that for mmparts.dll, you'll need to use an unlock program or boot to a command line. If you have trouble finding the new EXEHDR, you can also try the above512 program.
IBM has released (12/17/2003) Warp 4 FixPak 17 for Software Choice subscribers. Still available (1/10/2001) is the free FixPak 15. FixPak 17 updates the base level of OS/2 to approximately the same level as Convenience Pak FixPak 4. Device drivers are not included, and can be found in the separate Device Driver FixPak. You will need FixTool version 1.44 to install this. My personal preference is to install it using Fix.cmd from FastKick, which eliminates the need for floppies. From VOICE News.
BlueCad 1.0 is now available for free. Unfortunately, this CAD program has only continued on the Windows platform. Thanks to Klaus Staedtler for the news.
Here are some Java tips which may be useful:
SET HOMEDRIVE=X: SET HOMEPATH=\DIR\PATHor if you prefer a root directory you must NOT have a trailing backslash:
SET HOMEDRIVE=X SET HOMEPATH=:The JAVA2_USERHOME variable used by the Innotek/Sun Java does work correctly.
Adrian Gschwend wrote in to announce that GIMP can now (4/7/2003) run on the OS/2 desktop, with the help of Everblue. Gimp is the Gnu Image Manipulation Program, often called the free "Photoshop". It has been available for a long time for XFree86/OS2, and now you can run it without XFree86/OS2 installed. Everblue, the XLib implementation for OS/2 PM, is bundled with GIMP in a WarpIN package for easy installation. There is also a gimp.org page for the OS/2 version, which has further information.
The WPS Toolkit web site has been launched at netlabs.org. The Workplace Shell has by far the most innovative and extendible interface of all computer GUIs around. Besides giving you a lot of little helper functions, the API of the Workplace Shell Toolkit encapsulates the complexity of the handling of some of the tasks being the most time consuming to code. The following major APIs of the Workplace Shell Toolkit possibly are of particular interest: Text Message File (TMF) Support, Settings and Details Manager, Extended Attributes Manager, and Memory Mapped Files Manager. Among lots of little additional helpers to show up in future versions the following major APIs are on the todo list: XUL support. There is a programmer's guide and reference available.
IBM has released updates for the OS/2 networking components. MPTS has been updated to revision WR08706, and TCP/IP 4.3 has FixPak UN022206, both of which require a Software Choice subscription. eCS customers can find these on the eComstation site. With this update, MPTS is at version 6.52, and the TCP/IP revisions are: SOCKETS.SYS - 6.3100, AFOS2.SYS - 6.3000, AFINET.SYS - 6.3100. To check your current version, type INETVER at a command prompt. From VOICE News.
Virtual PC for OS/2 version 5.1 has been released (10/21/2002). This allows you to execute additional operating systems on top of your OS/2 desktops. This update comes with a plethora of new features and enhancements. For existing Virtual PC for OS/2 customers, the update is free of charge, and can be downloaded here. You can purchase it for the suggested retail price of Euro 239, from resellers such as Mensys. From OS2.org.
Here's a nice tip for people who are using recent kernels, and have large Windows EXE files (for use with Odin or otherwise). You may have noticed that the WPS takes a VERY long time to display the folders holding these files. The reason for this delay is that OS/2 has to search through the entire file to find the proper icon to display. If you're tired of waiting, add the following to your CONFIG.SYS file:
SET NOLARGENTEXEICON=nWhere n is the number of megabytes OS/2 should scan before assigning a default Windows icon.
IBM has released (8/19/2002) Device Driver FixPak 3, for Software Choice subscribers. eCS customers can find it on the eComstation site. Still available (9/29/2000) is the free Device Driver FixPak 2. Thanks to Andy Willis for the news.
IBM has released (2/25/2002) FixPak 3 for WSeB, which is available via FTP, and on the Software Updates Page. If you want to use the RSU update, you need to get this fix, or install TCP/IP FixPak UN_2101. Thanks to Klaus Staedtler for the news.
IBM has released (1/31/2002) TCP/IP 4.3.2 for Software Choice subscribers. This should include all of the previous fixes, as well as improved support for Java 1.3.
IBM has released (12/28/2001) updates to Java 1.1.8. You must have Java 1.1.8 from Software Choice already installed. Thanks to Klaus Staedtler for the news.
IBM has released (10/26/2001) updated kernels for Warp 4 and WSeB / MCP / ACP (UNI and SMP), as well as updates to JFS, SES, and the dump formatter. There are lots of fixes, and a couple new features: fine-tuning of the clock scale; support for more than 64MB of memory (for machines that previously required Dani's patch to OS2LDR); the internal revision displayed during boot can be suppressed; and trap messages will show the module name, including traps in 32-bit code. Thanks to R.C. for the news.
IBM has created updated (8/4/2001) installation disks for Warp 4. They are for ThinkPads, but should work on other systems as well.
Just like in Microsoft Office, there is a game hidden in the Star Office spreadsheet. Open a new Spreadsheet document, and then enter =GAME("StarWars") in the first cell. It starts a game resembling Space Invaders - the text is German, but it's easy to figure out. From eCS NewsCast.
Complete text of some OS/2 books are now available at OS/2.cz: Advanced OS/2 Programming, Inside OS/2, and Programming The OS/2 Presentation Manager. Note that these are copyrighted materials, so be aware of any local copyright and fair use laws. There is also a free OS/2.cz e-cards calendar for the year 2001. Thanks to Filip Molcan for the news.
IBM has released (3/14/2001) updates for TCP/IP 4.21 and 4.3 to fix the Trap E's that were occurring for dialup users (especially with InJoy). Thanks to Klaus Staedtler for the news. They also released (2/27/2001) updates for TCP/IP 4.21 and 4.3 that fix FTP ASCII transfers, and another update (8/14/2000) for TCP/IP 4.3 that fixes traps when connecting to FTP via Telnet.
IBM has released (1/9/2001) fixpak IP08414 for Warp Peer services. From VOICE News.
FixPak 43, the last FixPak for Warp 3, has been released (10/18/2000). You can get it via FTP or the IBM Software Updates page. It applies to Warp Server and Warp Server SMP only, because all versions of Warp 3 except Server and Server SMP have been dropped from support.
MPTS has been updated (4/28/2000) to revision WR08621, which contains a 32-bit TCP/IP stack. It requires either WR08600 or WR08610 to be installed. I recommend extracting the disk images to a directory on your hard drive, and installing it from there, since it is much faster. With this update, MPTS is at version 5.50, and the TCP/IP revisions are: SOCKETS.SYS - 6.2004, AFOS2.SYS - 6.2000, AFINET.SYS - 6.2013. To check your current version, type INETVER at a command prompt. Warning: the problems with the InJoy dialer in 32-bit stacks has gotten much worse with this release; it now causes Trap E errors. From WarpCast.
IBM has released (4/27/2000) FixPak UN_2101 for TCP/IP 4.21 (included with WSeB). It should be installed with MPTS 8621.
It seems the 512MB memory limit in Warp 4 has been increased to a maximum of 3GB. With FixPak 13 applied, it defaults to 1GB, but can be tuned via the Config.Sys variable "VIRTUALADDRESSLIMIT=3072" which indicates the value in megabytes, 512-3072.
For those who have stuck with the 16-bit TCP/IP stack (version 4.0x), MPTS WR08425 is now (1/19/2000) available. This will bring your inetver to 4.02y, and requires 8421 or above to be installed. Thanks to Klaus Staedtler for the news. Also available (12/2/99) is FixPak UN_0980. This contains updates to the 16-bit TCP/IP applications, including FTP, FTPD, NewsReader/2, Syslogd, and TCPCOEX. From WarpCast.
Martin Hadam reports IBM has updated (8/16/99) the Feature Installer to version 1.2.5. It "contains enhancements for installation reliability and serviceability."
FixPak 6 and above includes what seems to be a fix for the Pentium F00F bug. To enable it, add the line "BASEDEV=CMPXCHG8.SYS" to your CONFIG.SYS. You may have to copy this file from the OS2 directory to the OS2\BOOT directory. Thanks to Loren Bandiera for the info.
It's recently been discovered that FixPak 5 and 6 have an extra setting for the WarpCenter. If you add the line "SET MENUSFOLLOWPOINTER=ON" to your Config.sys, the cascading menus work in the same manner as the Windows 95 Start menu; that is, to view the contents of any folder you only need to put the mouse pointer over its icon. Thanks to Loren Bandiera for passing it on.