Updates from last month's column:

The WarpZilla team has released WarpZilla version 1.0 Release Candidate 3 as of 05/24/2002. This is an update to WarpZilla 0.9.2 that Dave Watson demoed at the July 2001 SCOUG general meeting, and was mentioned in the May 2002 Mr. Know-It-All. Go to ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla/releases/mozilla1.0rc3/. The file is mozilla-os2-vacpp-1.0rc3.zip. More info is at http://www.mozilla.org/ports/os2/. NOTES:

1. Steve Wendt has a WarpZilla tips page at http://www.os2bbs.com:80/os2news/Warpzilla.html.
2. Another site that has documentation of plugin support on OS/2 is at http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/OS2.html.
3. The script to convert WarpZilla builds from ZIP format to WPI format (for installation via WarpIn) is now at version 1.2.9 as of 05/26/2002. Go to http://hellspawn.dnsalias.net/~mircomir/os2.php. NOTE: The web page's default language is Italian, but English or German versions of the page are available if you click on the British Union Jack flag or the German flag in the upper left-hand corner of the page.

IBM has refreshed as of 05/17/2002 IBM Web Browser for OS/2 version 1.2. This is an update to the IBM version of Mozilla that was demonstrated by Dave Watson at the July 2001 SCOUG general meeting, and was referenced in the May 2002 Mr. Know-It-All. This refresh includes a security fix and a fix for printing background bitmaps. HOWEVER: You must be a current subscriber to Software Choice to download. Go to http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/asd-bin/doc/en_us/ns50/f-feat.htm.

IBM has refreshed as of 05/17/2002 Java 2 version 1.3.1. HOWEVER: You must be a current subscriber to Software Choice to download. Go to http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/asd-bin/doc/en_us/java13/f-feat.htm.

The tools for VIA 8233 motherboards (KT266A and some KT133 chipsets) that control CPU cooling and power management have been updated as of 05/02/2002. Use search key 8233cool on Hobbes.

CDRTools version 1.11a22pre2 has been released as of 05/03/2002. It can burn single-session, multi-session, or audio CD's. Use search key cdrtools on Hobbes.

A port of the Linux BTTV driver (for BT8X8 TV cards) has been released as of 05/31/2002 (build 1096). A small radio application is included. Also available is the source (along with a LXAPI32 support driver for porting Linux drivers). Go to http://www.nord-com.net/s.milcke/bttv_en.htm. NOTE: This should be considered a beta driver.

The RAR archiver has been updated to version 3.00 as of 05/17/2002. It was discussed this month in an article by Peter Skye. This is a command-line compression utilitiy, with tight general and multimedia compression, recovery record option management of non-RAR archives, RCVT (aRchive ConVersion Tool), and more. Use search key rar3 on Hobbes.

DFSee, which was demoed at the June 2001 SCOUG meeting, has been updated to version 4.24 as of 05/28/2002. It is a FDISK, display, analysis and recovery tool for disks and filesystems. It now includes some JFS and LVM support. Go to http://www.dfsee.com/dfsee.htm. NOTE: DFSee is now shareware. Tony Butka's tutorial on DFSee is at http://www.scoug.com/os24u/2001/scoug012.dfseetutorial.html.

UpdCD version 2.0.3 has been released as of 05/11/2002. It now includes support for eComStation, has a PM interface, and supports many OS/2 add-ons. It can be used to update the base Warp 4 (or Warp Server for e-Business) installation files with FixPaks, and supports the creation of updated installation diskettes. You can use the updated OS/2 image in combination with these diskettes to create new installations of OS/2 which already incorporate the FixPaks and other software. Go to http://xenia.sote.hu/~kadzsol/rexx/sajat/updcd.htm.

Apache version 2.0.36, the premier web server of the Internet, has been released as of 05/06/2002. For info, go to http://silk.apana.org.au/apache/apache_v2.shtml; download is at http://apache.org/dist/httpd/binaries/os2/. It offers big performance improvements over the older versions due to multi-threading and elimination of some EMX dependencies. Mr. Know-It-All tells you how to install it in his column this month.

AiR-BOOT version 0.91b (Release Candidate 1) has been released as of 05/17/2002. This is a multi-boot partition loader with some extra features, including colored "Award-like" SETUP, virus protection, Linux kernel support, and more. Go to http://kiewitzsoft.ath.cx/kiewitzsoft/.

DaniS506 version 1.4.3 has been released as of 05/20/2002. This is the replacement for IBM's IBM1S506 EIDE driver, which features support for many chipsets, PCCard controllers, busmastering, Ultra33-DMA, Ultra ATA-66, Ultra ATA-100, faster PIO due to 32-bit I/O, and much more. Use search key danis on Hobbes.

Analog Devices AD188x (SoundMax) audio driver version 3.1.1 has been posted to Hobbes as of 05/21/2002. Use search key ad188xos2.

Odin Bug Report Generator version 0.5.6a has been released as of 05/21/2002. This was demoed by Steven Levine at the August 2001 SCOUG general meeting. It is a tool to easily generate Odin bug reports. An older version of this program is now included with Odin. Use search key odinbug on Hobbes.

Normalize version 0.7.4 has been released as of 05/24/2002. This is an overly complicated tool for adjusting the volume of .WAV files to a standard volume level. This is useful for things like creating MP3 mixes, where different recording levels on different albums can cause the volume to vary greatly from song to song. Use search key normal on Hobbes.

The P6 / K7 MTRR (Memory Type Range Registers) management package has been updated to version 0.08 as of 05/25/2002. This is a device driver that can manage MTRR's of Intel P6 / AMD K7 series processors. It includes VFBWC.EXE, which uses MTRR write-combining for the video frame buffer; this can often improve graphic performance, especially DIVE. Go to http://www.sys3175.com/~jjsuwa/, or use search key p6k7mtrr on Hobbes.

This month's new listings - Drivers:

A driver for the Adaptec 1505A SCSI adapter was released as of 05/01/2002. Use search key 1505a on Hobbes.

If you are not using the DaniS506 drivers and are using the stock IBM IBM1S506.ADD driver, there is an updated version as of 10/25/2001. Go to http://service.software.ibm.com/os2dd/free/ibm1s506.exe.

IBM has updated the PC Card Director (PCMCIA support) for Thinkpads (without Cardbus support) as of 04/04/2002. Go to http://service.software.ibm.com/os2dd/free/pccarden.exe.

IBM has updated the COM.SYS driver to add "combo card" support (combined serial & parallel ports in a single PCI adapter) as of 05/17/2002. It also supports PCI interrupt sharing and supports 16 COM ports. Go to http://www7.software.ibm.com/2bcprod.nsf/Driver+Profile+Web/COM16.EXE?OpenDocument. NOTES:

1. You need Warp 4 with at least FixPak 12, Warp Server for e-Business, Convenience Pack 1 or 2, or eComStation.
2. If you are using this with a combo card, you also need an updated PRINT01.SYS (see next item).

IBM has updated the PRINT01.SYS driver to add "combo card" support as of 05/17/2002. It also supports PCI interrupt sharing. Go to http://www7.software.ibm.com/2bcprod.nsf/Driver+Profile+Web/PRINT01.EXE?OpenDocument. NOTES:

1. You need Warp 4 with at least FixPak 12, Warp Server for e-Business, Convenience Pack 1 or 2, or eComStation.
2. If you are using this with a combo card, you also need an updated COM.SYS (see previous item).

IBM has updated the printer drivers for PostScript, ink-jets, laserjets, and plotters to version 30.765 as of 05/29/2002. For the Omni drivers (generally HP DeskJet 9xxC and Canon Sxxx), go to http://service.software.ibm.com/os2dd/free/printerpak/en/omnien.exe; for the laserjets (non-PostScript), go to http://service.software.ibm.com/os2dd/free/printerpak/en/laserjeten.exe; for PostScript printers, go to http://service.software.ibm.com/os2dd/free/printerpak/en/pscripten.exe; and for plotters, go to http://service.software.ibm.com/os2dd/free/printerpak/en/plottersen.exe.

IBM has released an Ethernet driver for the Thinkpad T23 & T30 that supports the Intel PRO/100 VE/SP Ethernet adapter. This was released on 05/29/2002. Go to ftp://ftp.pc.ibm.com/pub/pccbbs/mobiles/tpnwall.exe. NOTE: This is a very large file (over 19MB), and is a self-extracting executable. OS/2 driver installation is through MPTS.

IBM has updated the BIOS for the Thinkpads T21 and T23 as of 05/15/2002. For the T21, go to ftp://ftp.pc.ibm.com/pub/pccbbs/mobiles/spsdkz31.exe; for the T23, go to ftp://ftp.pc.ibm.com/pub/pccbbs/mobiles/spsd1a54.exe.

IBM has updated the BIOS for the Thinkpad T20 as of 05/18/2002. Go to ftp://ftp.pc.ibm.com/pub/pccbbs/mobiles/spsdiy58.exe.

The OS/2 EnDIVE Project has been updated to version 0.0.7 as of 05/21/2002. It provides EnDIVE support on top of GRADD drivers, including SciTech Display Doctor. Currently supported are some chipsets from Matrox, ATI, Nvidia, and S3. Go to http://os2.kiev.ua/en/endive.php.

The infrared drivers and tools have been updated as of 05/21/2002. These allow for printing, communicating with a cell phone, and LAN access using IrDA. Use search key irdd on Hobbes.

Amouse version 2.0 has been updated as of 05/15/2002. This is a scroll mouse driver that works better on some wheel mice than IBM's driver. There is also a widget for XCenter available now. Go to http://www.nbsoftware.de/sw_ms2en.htm.

This month's new listings - Applications:

Our own Harry Chris Motin has written 2 REXX PM front-ends recently and has posted them to Hobbes as of 05/28/2002: CheckiniPM version 1 is a PM interface to Henk Kelder's Checkini. CleaniniPM version 1 is a PM interface to Carsten Arnold's Cleanini. Both are command-line utility programs that help maintain the integrity of the OS2.INI (and I assume OS2SYS.INI as well) file. Use search keys checkini and cleanini, respectively.

XSane version 0.86 has been released as of 05/01/2002. This is a front-end for SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) that requires XFree86/OS2. Go to http://home.tiscalinet.de/fbakan/xsane-os2.htm.

Guiffy, which was presented at the Feb. 2002 SCOUG general meeting, is now at version 4.2 as of 05/01/2002. It is a file compare / merge (diff-like) tool with a GUI implemented in Java. Go to http://www.guiffy.com.

GSView version 4.3 has been released as of 04/30/2002, to go with Ghostscript version 7.05 (as of 04/23/2002). Ghostscript is a freeware PostScript interpreter/converter for generating Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) documents, and GSView is a graphical document viewer that uses Ghostscript as its' display engine. For GSView, go to ftp://mirror.cs.wisc.edu/pub/mirrors/ghost/ghostgum/; for Ghostscript, go to ftp://mirror.cs.wisc.edu/pub/mirrors/ghost/gnu/gs705/. Info for GSView is at http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/, and for Ghostscript, at http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/. HOWEVER: as of 05/31/2002, the web page for Ghostscript has not been updated for the new version of Ghostscript.

Vice/2, the VersatIle Commodore Emulator, is now at version 1.9 as of 05/05/2002. It uses DIVE and DART at the moment, and the major new feature is "Real PAL emulation". Go to http://www.d4m.de/vice2/ or http://viceteam.bei.t-online.de/. Or use search key vice on Hobbes.

ELinks version 0.4pre6 has been released as of 05/06/2002. It is a text-mode web browser that supports rendering of tables and frames. This release features SSL and LUA scripting, and there have been some bug fixes and enhancements from the previous version 0.4pre3). ELinks was mentioned in the May 2002 Mr. Know-It-All. Go to http://elinks.pld.org.pl/, or http://www.os2site.com/sw/incoming/elinks04pre6.zip.

Gradmouse is a utility, released on 05/09/2002, that corrects the mouse speed in full-screen Win-OS/2 sessions when using a GRADD video driver. Use search key gradmous on Hobbes.

WarpVision was released on 05/22/2002. It is a player for DivX3/DivX4 format video streams, with MP3/AC3 audio. The latest version has a nice GUI interface, and no longer uses Odin and Win32 codecs. Go to http://os2.kiev.ua/en/wv.php.

Maul Publisher is now at version 2.10 as of 05/18/2002. It is billed as "the world's first professional desktop publisher for OS/2". It will automatically take care of page numbering in folding booklets, reversal of margins for facing pages, page numbering offsets where you don't want to start from Page 1, reversal of margins for top-bound booklets and top-folding booklets, centering margins on printers with odd margins, and multiway folding sheets and maps. In addition, you have full control of column, row, gutter, and center gutter guides, including the automatic adjustment of page offsets when a number of sheets are bound into a folding booklet. Go to http://www.manglais.com/subs/php/product.php?MAULE200.

StHWMon version 0.18 beta was updated as of 05/18/2002. It is a health monitor for motherboards with W83781D, W83782D, or VIA 82C686 chipsets. It now has support for the tools for cooling and power management for VIA KT133/266A chipsets (see above in the "Updates to last month's column" section). Go to http://www.nord-com.net/s.milcke/hwmon_en.htm.

cdrdao2 version 1.1.6 pre2 was released as of 05/24/2002. It is an enhanced OS/2 port of cdrdao (CD writing program in Disk At Once mode). It requires the Aspirout 1.1b5 driver, but NOT the EMX runtime. Use search key cdrdao2 on Hobbes.

Lynx version 2.85dev8 was released as of 05/29/2002. It is a text-mode browser that was reviewed in the past by Dallas Legan and was also mentioned in the May 2002 Mr. Know-It-All. Use search key lynx on Hobbes.

NewView version 1.37.7 was released as of 05/28/2002. It is a rewrite of VIEW.EXE that comes with OS/2. It reads .INF and .HLP files. Improvements include a new user interface, remember size/position, select and copy from the window, and more. Use search key newview on Hobbes.

CDR/RW Wizard version 1.0 beta 7 was released as of 05/28/2002. It is a GUI wizard interface to CDRecord/2 to burn CDR/CDRW (data, audio, etc.) It now features BootWizard for creating bootable CD's, and CDRDAO/2. Go to http://www.quasarbbs.net/rocco/cdrwiz.wpi. NOTE: You need WarpIn to install.

MMIOProc codecs for MP3 has been updated to version 0.4 as of 05/27/2002. With this codecs, the OS/2 multimedia system is able to play (and convert to .WAV format) MP3 files without any additional software. Go to http://www.math.berkeley.edu/~roconnor/MMIOMP3/.

A PMFormat replacement program has been released as of 05/26/2002. This is a PM program to format volumes with options, for use on LVM- enabled systems. Use search key pmformat on Hobbes.

CD Boot/2 version 2.00 has been released as of 05/22/2002. This is a utility to enhance bootable OS/2 CD-ROMs so that when the CD is inserted into the drive, a menu is displayed allowing you to continue booting from the removable media, or timing out to the hard drive instead. Go to http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/7885/Download/DownloadCDBoot2.html.

TVShow version 0.2 alpha has been released as of 05/21/2002. This is intended for viewing TV with BT878-based TV cards. Go to http://os2.kiev.ua/en/tvshow.php.

Minta version 2.50 has been released as of 05/21/2002. This is a MP3 tagging, listing, and information utility. Go to http://www.teamos2.ipcon.de/~thielen/programs/minta/.

IBM's Mozilla porting team has released as of 05/20/2002 fixes for VisualAge C++ version 3.65. Go to ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/ps/products/warpzilla/vacpp365fix.zip.

Editorial Note: Special thanks to SCOUG's Dallas Legan for writing a handy REXX script to convert URLs in a text file into HTML tags. It's much appreciated!

Copyright 2002 the Southern California OS/2 User Group. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

SCOUG, Warp Expo West, and Warpfest are trademarks of the Southern California OS/2 User Group. OS/2, Workplace Shell, and IBM are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.