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OS2 Discussion Forum Volume 9207 Issue 03 - Part II
OS/2 DISCUSSION FORUM 920703 - Part II
**************************************
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Date: Wed, 22 Jul 92 12:21:53 CDT
Reply-To: "IBM OS/2 Unedited Discussion List" <OS2-L@FRORS12>
From: "Jeffrey W. Spencer" <C0025JS@UMRVMB>
Subject: another list from sotware.watson.ibm.com
Here's another list from software.watson.ibm.com that might interest some
of you...
--------------------
IBM OS/2 Employee Written Software Catalog
These programs are available on all sponsored IBM BBS's and
CompuServe. The file names are the filename.ZIP listed in
this catalog.
IBM License Agreement for OS/2 Tools
-----------------------------------------------------------------
IF YOU DOWNLOAD OR USE THIS PROGRAM YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS.
International Business Machines Corporation grants you a license
to use the Program only in the country where you acquired it. The
Program is copyrighted and licensed (not sold). We do not
transfer title to the Program to you. You obtain no rights other
than those granted you under this license.
Under this license, you may:
1. use the Program on one or more machines at a time;
2. make copies of the Program for use or backup purposes within
your Enterprise;
3. modify the Program and merge it into another program; and
4. make copies of the original file you downloaded and distribute
it, provided that you transfer a copy of this license to the
other party. The other party agrees to these terms by its
first use of the Program.
You must reproduce the copyright notice and any other legend of
ownership on each copy or partial copy, of the Program.
You may NOT:
1. sublicense, rent, lease, or assign the Program; and
2. reverse assemble, reverse compile, or otherwise translate the
Program.
We do not warrant that the Program is free from claims by a third
party of copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, or any other
intellectual property infringement.
Under no circumstances are we liable for any of the following:
1. third-party claims against you for losses or damages;
2. loss of, or damage to, your records or data; or
3. economic consequential damages (including lost profits or
savings) or incidental damages, even if we are informed of
their possibility.
Some jurisdictions do not allow these limitations or exclusions,
so they may not apply to you.
We do not warrant uninterrupted or error free operation of the
Program. We have no obligation to provide service, defect
correction, or any maintenance for the Program. We have no
obligation to supply any Program updates or enhancements to you
even if such are or later become available.
IF YOU DOWNLOAD OR USE THIS PROGRAM YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS.
THERE ARE NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied
warranties, so the above exclusion may not apply to you.
You may terminate this license at any time. We may terminate this
license if you fail to comply with any of its terms. In either
event, you must destroy all your copies of the Program.
You are responsible for the payment of any taxes resulting from
this license.
You may not sell, transfer, assign, or subcontract any of your
rights or obligations under this license. Any attempt to do so is
void.
Neither of us may bring a legal action more than two years after
the cause of action arose.
If you acquired the Program in the United States, this license is
governed by the laws of the State of New York. If you acquired
the Program in Canada, this license is governed by the laws of
the Province of Ontario. Otherwise, this license is governed by
the laws of the country in which you acquired the Program.
3/92
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C A T A L O G
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IPFCPP.ZIP Date Issued - July 16, 1992
Author: Doug Haigh, IBM Raleigh, N. C.
IPFC Preprocessor.
IPFC Preprocessor is tool to expand the capabilities of the IPF Compiler. It
provides additional function for the IPF Compiler that are necessary for both
single sourcing online documentation & hardcopy books (using BookMaster), and
single sourcing of symbols for the developer and help panel writer. IPFC
Preprocessor allows you to define symbols, create conditionally compiled
sections of documents, include C language symbols (using #define) in help
panels, create simple text macros (tags), and resolves searches for imbedded
files and bitmaps to other directories.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
PMFTRM.ZIP Date Issued - July 16, 1992
Author: Steve Blunden, IBM Boston, MA.
Async Terminal program for OS/2.
PMFTERM provides ANSI, DEC VT100(R), TTY line mode and FTTERMC asynchronous
emulation for OS/2 1.2, 1.3 and 2.0+ without CM or ES. File transfer for
IND$FILE via 3708/7171 or XMODEM for others. Logon scripting provided
including special escape characters, CIS logon, IBM NSC BBS logon script etc.
Command line interface to SEND/RECEIVE for all F/T types. Full hypertext
help. COPY from and PASTE (!!!) TO emulation sessions (ie. from an
editor session). COM1-COM4 support, run as many PMFTERM's concurrently
as you have COM ports! Just add COM01/COM02/COM.SYS to CONFIG.SYS and
talk to the world...and still use your computer while you do it!
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%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% BITNET INTERNET %
% ------------------------------------------- %
% C0025JS@UMRVMB C0025JS@umrvmb.umr.edu %
% S097671@UMRVMA S097671@umrvma.umr.edu %
% ************** jeffs@cs.umr.edu %
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
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Feed from the Usenet (UUPC/Internet) comp.os.os2.* newsgroups :
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From: pricec@prism.CS.ORST.EDU (price carl wayne)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.advocacy
Subject: Dvorak on OS/2
Date: 20 Jul 92 21:10:45 GMT
Organization: Oregon State University, Computer Science Dept.
Check out the new PC Mag., Dvorak is now a strong supporter of OS/2.
Know what changed his mind, he tried it and found out that "The things
I've been told by the Microsoft people simply don't wash." Yep, the
Microsoft people feeding journalists a bunch of shit over OS/2. And
his first couple of lines read "I was reluctant to move to OS/2 2.0, but
now I can't imagine using anything else. If you have the horses, you're
crazy not to try it."
I still think this may be a novel new approch to OS/2 by journalists,
they are now actually trying it before writing about it.
I guess that's enough for now, check out the article, it's a good
read at how journalists handle things. (At least at ZD)
PS That's the August 1992 Volume 11 Number 14 issue.
--Carl
--
Carl W. Price * * Technological progress is like an *
Computer Engineering Student * * axe in the hands of a pathological *
Oregon State University * * criminal. *
pricec@prism.cs.orst.edu * * ---Albert Einstein *
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.advocacy
From: bergstro@src.honeywell.com (Pete Bergstrom)
Subject: Re: IBM vs. MS development kit prices?
Organization: Honeywell Systems & Research Center
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1992 20:24:14 GMT
jg3o+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jason Ari Goldstein) writes:
>Hey now,
>
>Every one seems to be talking about they want to pay less to do OS/2
>developemennt and I agree. But, I would rather pay nothing than pay
>less. So I got GNU C/C++. Granted I can't develope PM applications but
>at least I can write stuff for under the WPS. I couldn't do that for MS
>Windows.
The gcc ports (both gcc21 and emx) allow you to write and compile PM
apps. The API is incomplete in emx, but mostly done in gcc21.
>What I need is the OS/2 SDK cheap. If any of you IBM people are out
>ther listening, I may be a student now (one more semester to go), but
>soon enough I will be in business. Get me programming OS/2 now and I'll
>probably continue using it later.
Except for the threaded debugger, $119 buys you the header files,
library impdefs, SOM compiler, IPF compiler and online reference to
all the functions. I've seen it and liked it enough to order it for
use with gcc21. (And I even bought it for $79 mail order - email me
if you want to know where, I don't advertise if avoidable).
>What is also need is a general programming book, like Peztold's
>Programming MS Windows book. While were at it, why not team up with
Petzold has a Programming the OS/2 Presentation Manager book (for
v1.2), however, I'm using it for general guidelines and code scraps
and using the header files (and soon, the Toolkit) for specific
details.
>Borland (my personal favorite of compiler makers) and bundle the SDK
>with that. Charge them little for the liscence, if at all, so that the
>price of the compiler can be affordable.
It's under development, and if the price of the beta program is any
indication, "it *AIN'T* gonna be cheap". Last time I heard, it cost
$700-800 to buy buggy code and debug it for them. I fully expect them
to try to extort $500 from me to upgrade my BCC+ObjectWindows to an
OS/2 version. Yeah, right.
>Actually, better yet, team up with the Free Software Foundation and
>supply everything online over the network for free. That will certainly
>give you a strong user base.
I don't mind the $79 I've laid out for the toolkit, and it gives me a
base to work from.
Pete
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From: kcurtis@inthehat.engin.umich.edu (Keith Curtis)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.advocacy
Subject: Impressions of the July NT Release
Date: 22 Jul 92 00:05:54 GMT
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor
I recently installed the July NT release:
Its quite stable. I only crashed it a couple of times, and that had to do with
not properly configuring my printer driver. The rest of the time, it just locks
up, and you think its crashed, but it eventually starts working again.
There is a lot of it missing:
No FAT,HPFS->NTFS in-situ file system upgrader
No settings for DOS sessions
No POSIX support
Not many hardware drivers, and I found some to be buggy
Little on-line help
Not all the security features are implemented
Not all the accessories included (write, etc)
Etc, Etc.
There is a lot of code, there, though, but the DOS-16 and the Win-16 code is
buggy. Some of the code is just a port from the Win3, and not Win3.1
All of the code, though is either not tuned or just very slow because of NT's
overhead. NT takes my 486-50 with 16 megs and turns it into an 8086. It is not
at all usable in a work environment, if you are planning on using any DOS or
Win-16 apps. I'm m erely using it to test some things, and to attempt to port
my stuff to 32-bit. It better be massively sped up in the next few months, or
it won't fly.
I'm not an expert on making operating systems, but my experience with Microsoft
is that they have a ton to do and they won't be able to do it in time. I cannot
believe that they expect it to ship at the end of December. I was a tester for
Windows 3.1, a nd it was very stable and seemed ready to ship from the beginning
(last June), yet it shipped 10 months later. I cannot understand how NT which
is only half here could be predicted to ship in 5 months.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc,comp.os.os2.advocacy
From: duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca (Pat Duffy)
Subject: Information about OS/2 from an IBMer.
Organization: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1992 08:53:54 GMT
Hi All,
I got this from a local BBS. It's fairly interesting, and some of us (like
one R. Cain :-) who want to do more with device drivers may find this
interesting. Food for all, in any event. Enjoy!
>From Packet: BASICLY
Message # 53 Area : 8 Os2
>From : Albert Shan 07-12-92 11:06
To : All
Subj : IBM Plans (1 of 2) 1/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: This is a very long message
___------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: OS/2 Issues Update
Following is a list of current issues surrounding OS/2 in the market
today, and attached below are comments about those issues.
____________________________________________________________________
1. OS/2 Quality
2. OEM
3. Performance
4. 1992 Product Plans
5. Response to MS Win 3.1 vs OS/2 Document
6. Preload
------------------------------------------------------------------------
OS/2 QUALITY
OS/2 -- A QUALITY SUCCESS STORY
To produce the best possible quality product, a new development
process was instituted for OS/2 2.0. This new process included
small, empowered development teams and an unprecedented beta test
program involving 30,000 users.
Our objective was a 5 times quality improvement over our
previous best version, OS/2 1.3 We're proud to say that we have met
those objectives.
BUGS
OS/2 2.0 consists of about 3.5 million lines of code. Since
we began shipping, fewer than 10% of our users have called the OS/2
Support Line. More than 75% of these calls are usage, installation,
and setup questions. Only about 7% have turned out to be related to
substantive product problems. We have identified approximately 50
issues that are causing these calls. (Not all are bugs. Some are
for specific device support that we did not intend to include until
later releases, but we're now working due to customer interest.)
Of these, 5 are significant impact problems -- such as failure
to install on a certain configuration or intermittent traps on
certain systems. These are associated with specific configurations
that affect a small percentage of our users. Two of these five have
been fixed, and there are temporary workarounds for the other three.
About 20 can cause a major function to be impacted, but the
system continues to work, albeit with an inconvenient workaround.
The remaining 25 or so are inconveniences which affect enough
customers that we have made them a priority. An example is failing
to recognize that a window has been closed prior to Shutdown. Upon
reboot, the window is open and the user would have to click the
mouse button twice to close it again.
SERVICE STRATEGY
We are continuing to work these problems in priority sequence
and have posted a number of fixes on COMPUSERVE, OS/2 BBS, and
Internet. Users who have a problem not yet fixed can call the OS/2
Support Line to get registered for future fixes. We will notify
them when it is available.
In the fall there will be a Performance and Service Pack which
will include all available fixes plus some performance enhancements.
The Pack will be available either electronically or on diskettes for
a nominal charge (materials and handling).
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
FIXES CURRENTLY ON COMPUSERVE
o Can't install MFM/RLL (older family 1) disk drives
o If the swapper file expands to a partition boundary, it won't
shrink again until system reboot
o Some Western Digital chip sets can hang during system install
o Some Tseng chip sets in SVGA mode experience display
corruption going to and from a full screen Virtual DOS Machine
o Intermittent trap in the Win OS/2 session after exiting
WIN-OS/2 on 4MB systems.
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
Now available on the bulletin boards: a new version of the OS/2
Tips and Techniques document. It includes answers to the most
commonly asked questions on the support line.
SUPPORT LINE CALLS
The great majority (maybe as much as 80%) are from home users.
This percentage is no doubt skewed by the fact that home users don't
have IBM SEs or corporate help desks. However, we view this as a
positive indication of OS/2's acceptance in a market segment not
commonly associated with OS/2.
OTHER ITEMS
In addition to the 50 substantive issues previousely mentioned,
there are a number of other items reported on the Support Line that
we have logged for consideration for future OS/2 releases. These
items, which account for the remaining 18% of the Support Line
calls, fall into two categories.
The first category consists of relatively innocuous bugs that
have an easy workaround. For example, icons in the Minimized Window
Viewer are not lined up. (The user can always handle this by
selecting Arrange from the popoup menu.) The second category items
are not bugs at all, but are product suggestions or requirements --
for example, an alternate method of performing a function.
There are also some reported problems that we have decided not
include as priority items for fixing. These involve very unique
configurations, often of multiple devices of uncommon brands doing
strange things like daisy-chaining a tape drive onto a diskette
controller.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
OEM STATUS
We are committed to ensuring OS/2's widest possible acceptance
in the industry, across all computer manufacturers. To that end, we
have been testing OEM machines to verify compatibility with OS/2.
To date, more than 222 OEM machines have passed compatibility
testing on OS/2.
In addition, we are aggressively pursuing a program to sign
contract with OEM vendors to preload and/or resell OS/2 with their
equipment. Larry Rojas, the director of OEM business development in
Boca Raton, has a group of field marketing reps calling on OEMs for the
purpose of gaining these commitments. To date, they have signed
contracts with Scandic Products in Sweden and Reply in the U.S.
Negotiations are in progress with Olivetti, Dell, Compaq, ICL, AST,
NEC, CompuAdd, and Northgate.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
PERFORMANCE
1992 OS/2 PRODUCT PLANS
There will be a lot happening in the OS/2 product line through
the remainder of 1992.
ENHANCEMENTS TO THE BASE PRODUCT
In the fall: 32-bit graphics engine; Windows 3.1; device
drivers to support XGA, SVGA, and 8514 displays in seamless mode.
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS
We're continually working to improve performance. In the fall,
we're planning to improve performance for all systems, but
especially those with the minimum configuration of 4MB RAM.
NEW PACKAGING
In the fall, OS/2 will be available in a package containing 2
diskettes and a CD.
EXTENSIONS
Available in June, the Multimedia Presentation Manager/2
extensions and a toolkit. IBM OS/2 Pen Extensions and a toolkit are
planned for availability in late '92 or early '93.
DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS ANNOUNCEMENTS
OS/2 is already the Integrating Platform on the desktop. These
new announcements will build upon OS/2's networking capability to
extend that integration to another dimension -- the Integrated
Enterprise Network.
FOR DEVELOPERS
Device Adaptation Kits to aid in the development of device
drivers for SCSI devices (June), displays (in the fall), and
printers (fall). A Developers Migration Kit for migrating Windows
3.0 applications to OS/2 will be available this summer.
PERFORMANCE AND SERVICE PACK
We'll package up the available fixes to known OS/2 problems
together with the performance improvements and make them available
in the fall in a Performance and Service Pack.
APPLETS PACK
In the fall, we plan to offer a package of approximately 200
productivity applications, tools, utilities, games, and bitmaps.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
ENHANCEMENTS TO THE BASE PRODUCT
Available to installed customers for a nominal fee (media and
handling). Free (except for connect time) via electronic download.
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS
The focus will be on improving performance in those tasks and
functions in which the user interacts with the screen (as opposed to
background processing).
NEW PACKAGING
Expect to see us continue to make use of CD packaging in the
future. The added capacity of the CD makes it easy to bundle other
programs with OS/2, allowing us to get creative in promotions with
application software vendors, as well as in bundling our own
offerings.
MULTIMEDIA
MMPM/2 adds audio and limited image capabilities to the
OS/2 2.0 32-bit base. It exploits the features required to make
multimedia effective that OS/2 delivers. This includes multitasking
and the flat memory model -- required for handling data objects many
megabytes in size.
The MMPM/2 architecture enables new functions, devices, and
multimedia data types and formats to be added as technology
advances.
PEN
The IBM OS/2 Pen Extensions provides OS/2 2.0 support with
special features for pen-based personal systems. The software
allows the user to annotate images online, use gesture commands to
invoke fastpath operations, soft keyboards for quick updates to
spreadsheets and notes, as well as use of freehand drawing,
handwriting/ink capture, and character recognition for limited data
entry. Included are utilities for a pop-up keyboard which allows
customization of the soft keyboard.
LAN SYSTEMS ANNOUNCEMENTS
Coming this fall are a new release of LAN Server, enhancements
to Communications Manager, a Developers Toolkit for Distributed
System Services, Lotus Notes, and LAN Enabler 2.1. The CID
(Configuration/Installation/Distribution) product will greatly enhance
the ease of installation of OS/2 and other products across networks,
by offering automated and unattended configuring, distribution and
installation.
DEVELOPERS' MIGRATION KIT
This kit will make it possible to port applications and drivers
with little or no code changes. The developer can generate
applications and drivers for Windows 3.0 and OS/2 2.0 from a single
source. The kit includes
- Conversion utilities for resource files, definition files,
icons, cursors. Bitmaps and help files.
- MIRRORS.DLL (debug)
- Headers, libraries, samples
- Documentation
SERVICE AND PERFORMANCE PACK
Available to installed customers for a nominal fee (media and
handling). Free (except for connect time) via electronic download.
APPLETS PACK
We're currently in the process of selecting these applets from
the many submitted by software vendors and IBMers, so we can't
mention any specifics, but stay tuned to this space. We'll probably
offer a CD version of this also.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
RESPONSE TO MS DOCUMENT ON WINDOWS 3.1 VS OS/2
There is so much misleading information in this document
that it is hard to know where to start. Following are some brief
responses to individual items.
RELIABILITY
- Microsoft claims that Windows 3.1 eliminates UAEs (Unrecoverable
Application Errors). It doesn't eliminate them, it renames
them to GPFs (General Protection Faults). When a GPF occurs
it still recommends that you reboot your system.
- Win 3.1 still does not make use full use of the 386 hardware
protection as OS/2 does.
MINIMUM CONFIGURATION COMPARISONS
- MS's tables are apples to oranges comparisons
- The tables quote system requirements for the most basic,
limited-function mode of Windows' three modes. Then, when
functions are compared, MS quotes the function of the mode with
the largest system requirements.
The Microsoft advertisement on Windows 3.1 vs OS/2 performance
is misleading.
The scenarios in the ad are a narrow subset of the kinds of
work that a user might perform. It is true that when running
Windows applications one at a time with nothing else on the system,
OS/2 will run about 20 to 25% slower.
However, DOS apps run faster on OS/2.
And when more than one task is being done, OS/2's performance
advantage becomes evident. Because of OS/2's superior multitasking,
it can run background tasks -- such as file copying, communications,
or spreadsheet recalculation -- with no visible impact on foreground
work. With Windows, the cursor movement can lag behind the mouse
movement, and displaying of characters can lag behind keyboarding to
the point where system becomes almost unusable until the background
job is done.
An illustrative scenario from National Software Testing
Laboratories (NSTL): To load MS Word for Windows on a Mod 57 with
nothing else running takes 7.2 seconds with Windows 3.1 and 9.3
seconds with OS/2 2.0. If you do the same load with an XCOPY in
the background, Windows load time jumps to 41.1 seconds, compared
with 15.3 seconds for OS/2.
In addition, we're continually working to improve performance.
In the fall, we're planning to improve performance for all systems,
but especially those with the minimum configuration of 4MB RAM.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
MS TESTING METHODOLOGY
- An objective performance tester would question the methodology.
- The results published are for very small subtasks
- The test scenarios appear to be Microsoft's own, not that of
an objective third party. They say the scenarios are "like
PC World's", but what does that mean?
- They have not identified the vendor performing the test
- They did not indicate the specific configuration. This makes
it difficult for another party to replicate and validate the
tests.
OS/2 APPLICATIONS
As applications become available that take advantage of OS/2's
capabilities, e.g. multithreading and 32 bit, OS/2 performance can
be expected to get even better.
THE NUMBER OF OS/2-CAPABLE MACHINES
- MS quotes Infocorp as a source. Infocorp says they do not
recognize the number attributed to them.
- Infocorp says 28% of the install base is OS/2-capable
- The majority of machines shipped today are OS/2-capable
This percentage will grow very rapidly in the next few years.
- Microsoft's numbers for Windows-capable machines include 286s,
which don't support the full Windows capability
OS/2's OBJECT-ORIENTED WORKPLACE SHELL
- MS says the OS/2 Workplace Shell requires a learning curve.
- This depends on where you're coming from. MAC users are
usually instantly productive, new users likewise learn quickly.
- Much as DOS users had a short learning period to move to the
next generation interface -- Windows, Windows users will
have a short (a few hours) learning period to become familiar
with the next generation object-oriented Workplace Shell.
- Windows users who have become familiar with the WPS find the old
Windows GUI to be primitive by comparison.
- Users can always choose to have it the old Windows way and
operate with menus instead of objects. They can even choose an
option which gives the screen the look and feel of Windows.
CONNECTIVITY
- MS says OS/2 has limited host connectivity. Unsaid is the fact
that they're talking about the OS/2 base product only.
- The connectivity is delivered in OS/2 Communications manager, the
most comprehensive host connectivity tool available
- All the DOS/Windows asynch emulation packages work on OS/2 as well
NETWORK CLIENT
- No company has more experience and capability in networking than
IBM.
- OS/2 is the industry's best desktop client for connecting to
complex enterprise networks.
APPLICATIONS
- MS shows tables comparing the number of OS/2 graphical apps with
Windows graphical apps
- Since OS/2 runs DOS, Windows and OS/2 graphical apps, OS/2 will
always have the most applications
INSTALLING DOS-BASED APPS
- MS makes a point of the difficulty of installing DOS apps on OS/2
-- configuring settings, etc.
- Very misleading. We ship a default setting that will run most
DOS apps just fine.
- OS/2's settings capability gives you flexibility if you want it
- In our opinion, OS/2's DOS settings dialog is easier to use than
Windows' PIF editor.
FLEXIBILITY
- MS tries to turn a virtue into a vice by decrying the fact that
OS/2 offers the user choices in interfaces: command lines, menus,
or object-oriented.
- We believe in letting the user have it their way.
WIN 3.1 ON OS/2
- MS says OS/2 runs a modified version of 3.0. One of the key
modifications IBM made is the kind of parameter validation MS
touts as a reliability improvementin 3.1.
- Win 3.1 on OS/2 will be available in the fall.
INSTALLATION
- It takes longer to install OS/2's 20 diskettes than Windows' 6.
True. That's because you get so more with OS/2:
- Three operating environments
- The Workplace shell
- Pre-emptive multitasking, Adobe Type Manager, etc.
- In the fall, OS/2 will be available on 2 diskettes and a CD-ROM
- In the fall, automatic, unattended installation over a network
will be enabled with the CID product
WINDOWS HAS MORE DEVELOPMENT TOOLS
- OS/2 has a full complement of development tools.
- Many of the leading edge tools originated on OS/2
- OS/2 is the preferred development environment -- even for
Microsoft.
WINDOWS SCALABILITY
- Pen Windows appls don't exist. NT doesn't exist. Their
scalability is not proven.
- The Microsoft portability guide clearly indicates problems
running DOS/ Windows apps directly on NT.
DEVICE DRIVERS
- OS/2 print drivers support 205 printers, which address the vast
majority. More are coming later this year.
- SCSI drivers are coming in June
- More display drivers are coming in the fall.
FONTS
- Windows uses the proprietary TrueType fonts
- OS/2 includes Adobe Type Manager, the universally accepted
industry standard.
____________________________________________________________________
PRELOAD
o OS/2 2.0 at no additional charge
o IBM Mouse at no additional charge
o System is ready to use right out of the box
No installation required
o The preload version of OS/2 has some additional
features:
o Additional pre-installed information aids to help
users get productive quickly
- Welcome and Quick Tour
- "For the DOS User" tutorial
- Application install tutorial
- Hardware system overview for hardware
- Service and support information
o Additional useful utilities
- Uninstall utility for easy pruning of unrequired
features
- Bootable diskette and System Backup Utilities to easily allow
you to backup and protect your system.
o Additional Workplace Shell folders to better organize the
additional features on your desktop
- Welcome and Quick Tour Folder
- Additional Tutorials Folder
- Features Folder
- Service and Support Folder
- About Your System Folder
- Applications Folder
- Configurations Tools Folder
___-------------------------------------------------------------------
End of message
* SLMR 2.1a * OS/2 Version 2: Windows with bullet proof glass
--- Maximus/2 2.01wb
* Origin: The Idle Task... Richmond BC. (604)273-5588 (1:153/905)
******************************************************************************
--
Patrick Duffy, duffy@theory.chem.ubc.ca | There is a theory which states that if
ever anyone discovers what the Universe is for and why it is here it will in-
stantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplic-
able. There is another which states that this has already happened. -D. Adams
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.programmer
From: Larry Margolis <margoli@watson.ibm.com>
Subject: OS/2 2.0 EPM Editor Rexx interface documentation
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1992 18:37:24 GMT
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those
of IBM
Organization: The Village Waterbed
(The following is part of my reply to a note sent me on July 4, while
I was away on vacation. The reply bounced, so I'm posting it both in
hopes of reaching the original sender and because I think the information
might be of interest to others.)
> I've looked at the examples in the quick help section and although I've
> found them to be of some use, there is lots I don't understand. The
> main piece of info which I'm missing are the prototypes for the
> "buildmenuitem" and "buildsubmenuitem" and how to call other macros
> when an item is selected.
(Just got back from a long, well-deserved :-) vacation, and catching up
on a lot of mail. I'll be brief; let me know if you need more info.
Also, if you sent a later note, I didn't see it yet...)
The build...item commands are actually front-ends for internal opcodes.
They'll eventually be defined as EPM/Rexx functions, so that you can use
them more easily; at the present time, due to the way they're parsed, you
can't have any spaces in any parameter other than the command.
buildsubmenu menuname submenuid submenutext attrib helppanel e_command
buildmenuitem menuname submenuid menuitemid submenutext attrib helppanel
e_command
Buildsubmenu adds a pulldown to the action bar menu named 'menuname', as
submenu number 'submenuid'. The text displayed on the action bar will be
'submenutext', the attribute will be 'attrib' (see the menu calls in the
OS/2 Tech Ref for the various attributes, or just use 0), the help panel
resid that will be displayed if the user presses F1 while the menu item
is selected is 'helppanel' (0 if no help for that menu item), and 'e_command'
is the command that will be executed if that menu item is selected. It
should be blank (omitted) if you want to define a pull-down; if a command
is defined in the buildsubmenu opcode then it will act immediately. If
no command is defined, then the pull-down menu presented will be all the
menu items added via buildmenuitem calls that specified the same submenuid.
All the 'menuitemid's must be unique.
The 'e_command' can be any command, including RX - so to call a Rexx macro,
just define the command as 'RX macroname'. E.g.,
'buildsubmenu default 1990 RexxInterface 0 0'
'buildmenuitem default 1990 1991 AddCommentFields 0 0 rx comment'
'buildmenuitem default 1990 1992 ShowRexxDateFormats 0 0 rx rxdates'
> I would also like to know if the "default" menu is special
It is, but not in the way you mean. That's the name used for the default
EPM action bar, so when you use that, whatever you define gets added to
the current action bar; using a different name will create a new action
bar.
> and why after removing it I can't get it back.
Entering the command
showmenu default
('default' is case sensitive) will show the default menu; your problem is
that the SHOWMENU command defined in the E macros fails to update a
universal variable that tells what the current menu is, so the macros
still think that the menu is 'default' and try to look up the menuid in
that instead of in your custom menu; unless you happened to use the same
ID as an existing menu item in 'default', nothing will happen.
This will be fixed in the next release; in the mean time, the following
is a UUENCODEd .ex file that you can link in which should fix the problem
- it contains a replacement SHOWMENU command.
------------------- Cut here -------------------------------
<Note from your OS2 Forum Editor:
The UUENCODEd file which was supplied was corrupt and was removed.>
------------------- Cut here -------------------------------
If you want to have it linked automatically, you could create a PROFILE.ERX
containing:
/* Link in fixed SHOWMENU command in SHOWMENU.EX */
'linkverify showmenu'
Then enter the EPM command PROFILE ON and select Options / Save Options.
Assuming the PROFILE.ERX is in your EPMPATH (or PATH), it will automatically
be executed every time a new edit window is opened.
> The other piece of info I would like is how to re-map keys.
The best way is through the E macros, which isn't yet available (once I
get caught up on my mail and news, finishing up the tech ref so that we
can ship the macro language is my top priority). An alternate way would
be by defining keys as accelerators, and having the accelerator issue
the command. Link in the following .ex file to define BUILDACCEL and
ACTIVATEACCEL commands:
------------------- Cut here -------------------------------
<Note from your OS2 Forum Editor:
The UUENCODEd file which was supplied was corrupt and was removed.>
------------------- Cut here -------------------------------
/* Demonstrate BuildAccel, by LAM
buildaccel table flags key index command
where :
table = the name of the accelerator table, or '*' for the current one;
flags = any combination of the AF_ flags defined below;
key = an ASCII code (for AF_CHAR) or virtual key code (for AF_VIRTUALKEY);
index = a unique index value for this table. STDCTRL.E currently uses 1000 -
(I suggest you use the default accelerator table.)
*/
AF_CHAR = 1 /* key style constants */
AF_VIRTUALKEY = 2
AF_SCANCODE = 4
AF_SHIFT = 8
AF_CONTROL = 16
AF_ALT = 32
AF_LONEKEY = 64
AF_SYSCOMMAND = 256
AF_HELP = 512
VK_BUTTON1 = 1 /* Some virtual keys; */
VK_BUTTON2 = 2 /* check the toolkit for the complete list */
VK_BUTTON3 = 3
VK_BACKSPACE = 5
VK_NEWLINE = 8 /* Note: this is the regular Enter key. */
VK_SHIFT = 9
VK_CTRL = 10
VK_ALT = 11
VK_CAPSLOCK = 14
VK_INSERT = 26
VK_DELETE = 27
VK_SCRLLOCK = 28
VK_NUMLOCK = 29
VK_ENTER = 30 /* Note: this is the numeric keypad Enter key. */
VK_F1 = 32
VK_F2 = 33
VK_F3 = 34
VK_F4 = 35
VK_F5 = 36
VK_F6 = 37
VK_F7 = 38
VK_F8 = 39
VK_F9 = 40
VK_F10 = 41
VK_F11 = 42
VK_F12 = 43
'buildaccel *' (AF_CHAR + AF_CONTROL) 122 9000 'sayerror Ctrl+z pressed'
/* ASCII 122 = 'z' */
'buildaccel *' (AF_CHAR + AF_CONTROL) 90 9001 'sayerror Ctrl+Z pressed'
/* ASCII 90 = 'Z' */
'buildaccel *' (AF_VIRTUALKEY + AF_ALT) VK_F1 9002 'qtime'
/* Alt+F1 tells the time. */
'activateaccel' /* No argument => use current table name. */
------------------- Cut here -------------------------------
Note that you can execute a current key definition by use of the DOKEY
command; it accepts the "Extended ASCII Character" described in the
online help for the KEY and LOOPKEY commands. Also note that the accelerator
table IDs used here must be unique (across menu IDs as well).
Larry
P.S. I guess I wasn't brief... :-)
Larry Margolis, MARGOLI@YKTVMV (Bitnet), margoli@watson.IBM.com (Internet)
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END OF OS/2 DISCUSSION FORUM 920703 - Part II
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