Third Party OS/2 Software Support

Post #22,275 by nking 12/22/01 3:38:42 AM Reply	Third Party OS/2 Software Support It is nice to see that open source software is being ported from the XFree86 environment to OS/2, or via the Unix GCC code to OS/2. All that is needed to run these ports usually is the runtime libraries. It seems that as of version 5.2 of StarOffice that OS/2 is no longer supported or able to be downloaded from Sun. I had to surf the Internet to find 5.1 of StarOffice for OS/2. [link\|http://www.openoffice.org\|Open Office] does not even have an OS/2 binary to download. But they do have the source code which someone can port to OS/2 to create the binaries. Oracle, also, no longer has an OS/2 version of their database. You win some, you lose some. At least Mozilla and Opera exist for OS/2. Many software archives like [link\|http://www.shareware.com\|Sharware.com] and [link\|http://www.filez.com\|Filez.com] and [link\|http://www.jumbo.com\|Jumbo.com] have dropped their OS/2 sections! Yikes! I think even Leo dropped out of OS/2. IBM also dropped its free OS/2 support as far as I can tell. In order to download that OS/2 JDK they ask for a password. I registered but my password doesn't work, maybe only paying customers get a password? Still OS/2 is a good alternative to Windows. "Before Christmas it is 'Ho ho ho', after Christmas it is 'Owe owe owe'" - Santa Norm
Post #22,290 by jake123 12/22/01 12:21:41 PM Reply	One word: Hobbes [link\|http://hobbes.nmsu.edu\|HOBBES!!!] You might want to consider pointing your newsreader at [link\|news://jakesplace.dhs.org\|my computer] for a good selection of OS/2 related newsgroups. -- ---------------------------------------------------------- * Jack Troughton jake at jakesplace.dhs.org * * [link\|http://jakesplace.dhs.org\|[link\|http://jakesplace.dhs.org\|http://jakesplace.dhs.org]] [link\|ftp://jakesplace.dhs.org\|[link\|ftp://jakesplace.dhs.org\|ftp://jakesplace.dhs.org]] * * Montr\ufffdal PQ Canada [link\|news://jakesplace.dhs.org\|news://jakesplace.dhs.org] * ----------------------------------------------------------
Post #22,291 by Andrew Grygus 12/22/01 12:22:06 PM Reply	OS/2 Stuff For news & such, try [link\|http://en.os2.org/\|OS2.org], and of course [link\|http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/\|Hobbes] is still the primary download site. Drivers are available from [link\|http://www7.software.ibm.com/2bcprod.nsf\|IBM OS/2 Device Driver Pak]. I recently go a driver to support PCI parallel ports there. Note on OS2.org the EverBlue project which is working on putting X11 in an OS/2 window. The current XFree86 system only works full screen. For commercial OS/2 software go to [link\|http://www.bmtmicro.com/\|BMT Micro]. A lot of the stuff I mention here is commercial, but all low priced and worth every penny. For general word processing forget bloated Windows style software like Star Office. Get [link\|http://www.rom-logicware.com/e_start.htm\|Papyrus]. $99 for Word Processing, Desktop Publishing, HTML and embedded spreadsheet, $149 with the integrated database. This is the fastest, easiest to use word processor / light publisher in the known universe. Reads many Word documents (Star Office reads the ones it doesn't), exports Word97, RTF, HTML, ASCII. Also available for Windows and Atari, Linux coming. In a business, this thing can save you a fortune in employee time. For heavy image editing and drawing, get [link\|http://www.dadaware.com/\|Embellish] (OS/2, Windows). It's free since they went broke, but the product is finished. For programming, [link\|http://www.vpascal.com/\|Virtual Pascal] is free (OS/2, Windows) and compatible with Borland Pascal and Delphi v2. For image viewing, conversion, cropping, color adjustment, etc. PMView (buy at BMT Micro) (OS/2, Windows). For email, PMMail (OS/2, Windows) is really great if you manage multiple email accounts - several of my Windows clients are using it (especially the SirCam victims) Buy at BMT Micro. InJoy is the best Internet dialer available for any platform, and is available as a gateway for your network (I used that feature on my net before we got DSL) and firewall. Kon (avail BMT) is a fabulous ASCII text editor and includes context highlighting for HTML and several other languages. ZOC (avail BMT) for dial-in sites and terminal emulation. Also works on TCP/IP, but I use the TelnetPM, which comes with OS/2 v4.0. There's [link\|http://www.jbcsolutions.com/\|Home Page Publisher] for creating Web sites. I own it but I don't use it because I'm a control freak and prefer to do Web pages with Kon. For Web browsing, of course, use the latest nightly build of [link\|http://mozilla.org\|Warpzilla]. For Accounting, there are a number of home and SOHO packages for OS/2, or any DOS based accounting system (Vigilant and others), or use a Linux host based package and telnetPM. With all this stuff (and more), I have a business environment that eats Windows alive for both efficiency and cost. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #22,300 by tonytib 12/22/01 5:56:11 PM Reply	Don't forget Java programs I use [link\|http://www.polarbar.org/\|PolarBar] mailer for e-mail, and it works well, especially with the IBM VM. It's not as slick as PMMail, but works well for me. I'm currently using [link\|http://www.appgen.com\|MoneyDance] for finances; it's plenty fast on an Athlon and does everything I need. It's $40. Another Java program that I've tried a bit (although again, it's not as slick as a native program would be) is [link\|http://www.bigzip.com/\|BigZip] but it's worked fine for me so far. ObjectDesktop has an integrated archiver, but I doubt it's available. [link\|http://www.freshmeat.net\|Freshmeat] is a valuable resource, even if you're not running Linux. I'm know I've got some IBM JDK's on my hard drive, plus an IBM registration or two, so if possible I'll include these on CD-ROM with Warp. Tony
Post #22,312 by nking 12/22/01 11:02:34 PM Reply	IBM JDK thanks, I tried to download from IBM and it keeps asking me for a password. I am not sure how to get one as I registered with IBM, but my password does not work on the Java downloads. I can download fixpacks fine, but not the Java and other stuff. "Before Christmas it is 'Ho ho ho', after Christmas it is 'Owe owe owe'" - Santa Norm
Post #22,317 by a6l6e6x 12/23/01 12:20:39 AM Reply	Here's one place to sign up with IBM. [link\|http://isource.ibm.com/world/myact/index.shtml\|IBM iSource.] I'm not sure it will meet your needs, but it said no cost is involved. Alex Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. -- Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
Post #22,321 by nking 12/23/01 7:34:24 AM Reply	Thanks it looks to be an email list sent out from IBM. I checked OS/2 as an interest. It is called iSource. What I need is an IBM Select Choice software account, I am not sure how to make one. I thought I did when I registered with IBM, but it seems they have a lot of layers to their registration procresses? "Before Christmas it is 'Ho ho ho', after Christmas it is 'Owe owe owe'" - Santa Norm
Post #22,360 by madodel 12/23/01 10:38:40 PM Reply	Re: Thanks That's IBM Software Choice and it is a subscription program. Roughly $200 for 2 years. Gets you the latest MCP (Merlin Convenience Package), new drivers and fixes as well as some "features" like new TCP/IP stack, Java 1.3 and IBM's own branded version of Mozilla. You can read more on it at [link\|http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL0401H/vnewsf2.htm\|http://www.os2voice.../vnewsf2.htm] There is also eComStation which is a based on the MCP. Its an OEM version of OS/2 that includes everything currently on SWC except for the IBM browser (Which is of course available as the free Warpzilla version). However it doesn't include new releases of the MCP, which are part of their Upgrade Protection addon. But does include a lot of additional software like Lotus Smart Suite. Anyway you learn more about it at [link\|http://www.ecomstation.com\|http://www.ecomstation.com]. Or go to [link\|http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/vnlindex.html\|http://www.os2voice...nlindex.html] and scan the article list for eComStation. There are 5 years of articles on OS/2 there, and every month we put out a new issue. :-) Mark For a choice in the future JOIN VOICE NOW check out [link\|http://www.os2voice.org/index.html\|http://www.os2voice.org/index.html]

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