Updates from last month's column:

The WarpZilla team has released Mozilla 1.7.6 as of 03/24/2005. This is an update to Mozilla 1.4 that was demoed by Tony Butka at the Sept. 2003 SCOUG general meeting. Older versions of Mozilla were mentioned in the May 2002 Mr. Know-It-All (http://www.scoug.com/os24u/2002/scoug205.mrkia.html). Go to ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mozilla/releases/mozilla1.7.6/contrib/. There is an installer version (mozilla-1.7.6-os2-installer.exe), and a zip file version (mozilla-1.7.6-os2.zip). More info is at http://www.mozilla.org/ports/os2/.

NOTES:
1. The version 1.7.x series is the last version to be officially produced by the Mozilla Foundation; read the transition plan at http://www.mozilla.org/seamonkey-transition.html. This means the Foundation will now concentrate their efforts on Firefox and Thunderbird (see below).
2. Having said that, the Mozilla community plans to pick up development of Mozilla (probably under a different name TBA to avoid confusion); go to http://wiki.mozilla.org/SeaMonkey:Home_Page.
3. Steve Wendt has a WarpZilla tips page at http://www.os2bbs.com/os2news/Warpzilla.html.
4. Another site that has documentation of plugin support on OS/2 is at http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/OS2.html.
5. If you install the zip file version, you need to unzip it yourself into a directory and create or update a program object accordingly.
6. The recommended installation method is to install into a fresh directory; however, if you install over an older version, be sure to delete GKCONTNT.DLL and COMPREG.DAT (if they exist); otherwise you may have problems running Mozilla after installation. Also, if you do install over an older version, be sure to read the Dec. 2003 Mr. Know-It-All (http://www.scoug.com/os24u/2003/scoug312.mrkia.html).
7. This version requires the GCC runtime: download that at http://download.innotek.de/gccos2/runtime/libc-0.5.1.exe (a self- installing executable). The EMX runtime is no longer required if you don't already have it installed. The GCC runtime installer defaults to x:\OS2\DLL (where x is your OS/2 or eComStation boot drive); it may be preferable to put the runtime in the same directory as MOZILLA.EXE (see next note).
8. Mike Kaply of IBM posted to the netscape.public.mozilla.os2 newsgroup some time back that he figured out how to share a profile between version 1.4.2 or older (which is compiled with the VACPP compiler), and version 1.5 or greater (which is compiled with the GCC compiler): Make sure that MOZRMI36.DLL is NOT in your LIBPATH and only exists where the version 1.4.x (or older) MOZILLA.EXE is; conversely on the version 1.5 or greater side, make sure the GCC runtime DLLs (LIBC05 and GCC322) are also NOT in your LIBPATH and only exists where the version 1.5 or greater MOZILLA.EXE is.
9. An alternate set of icons for Mozilla are available at http://members.cox.net/greenemk/os2/mozstuff/mymozillastuff.html.
10. Tony's notes on installing and running Mozilla are at http://www.scoug.com/os24u/2003/scoug310.mozilla.html.

The WarpZilla team has also released Firefox 1.0.2 as of 03/24/2005. This is an update to Firebird 0.6.1 (the previous name for Firefox) that was demoed by Tony Butka at the Sept. 2003 SCOUG general meeting. It is a stand-alone browser based on Mozilla that does not include mail, news, composer, IRC, and the other frills. A recent announcement said that there will not be any more versions of Mozilla (as produced by the Mozilla Foundation) past the 1.7.x series, so Firefox is now the Foundation's official browser. Go to ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/1.0.2/contrib/. The file name is firefox-os2-1.0.2.zip. More info is at http://www.mozilla.org/ports/os2/.

NOTES:
1. This version is primarily security fixes and probably does not contain any functional changes otherwise.
2. Steve Wendt has a WarpZilla tips page at http://www.os2bbs.com/os2news/Warpzilla.html.
3. You must unzip the zip file yourself into a directory and then create or update a program object accordingly.
4. This version requires the GCC runtime: download that at http://download.innotek.de/gccos2/runtime/libc-0.5.1.exe (a self- installing executable). The EMX runtime is no longer required if you don't already have it installed. The GCC runtime installer defaults to x:\OS2\DLL (where x is your OS/2 or eComStation boot drive); it may be preferable to put the runtime in the same directory as the Firefox executable.
5. There are some icons for Firefox as of 02/13/2004. Use search keys firefoxicon or os2firefox on Hobbes.
6. Tony's notes on installing and running Firefox are at http://www.scoug.com/os24u/2003/scoug310.mozilla.html.

DFSee, which was presented by Tony Butka at the March 2004 SCOUG general meeting, is now at version 7.02 as of 03/29/2005. It is an FDISK, display, analysis, and recovery tool for disks and filesystems. It includes the ability to resize FAT and FAT32 partitions, and has some JFS and LVM support. Go to http://www.dfsee.com/dfsee.htm. Tony's tutorial on DFSee is at http://www.scoug.com/os24u/2001/scoug012.dfseetutorial.html.

NOTES:
1. You can also use search key dfsee on Hobbes.
2. DFSee is now shareware. Registration is at Mensys (http://shop.mensys.nl/catalogue/mns_DFSee.html).
3. Apparently, DFSee can now be installed via WarpIn.

An OS/2 build of NVU version 0.90 has been released as of 03/15/2005. It is the next generation of Mozilla Composer, as a stand-alone HTML editor. Go to http://weilbacher.org/Mozilla/builds.html; more info is at http://www.nvu.com/.

FlashBlock version 1.3.0.1 has been released as of 02/23/2005. This is a Mozilla extension that replaces Flash animations with a "click to play" placeholder. Go to http://flashblock.mozdev.org/.

Mr. Message has been updated as of 03/06/2005. It is an instant messaging client which is capable of communicating over AOL's Instant Messenger network using the OSCAR protocol. Go to http://mamodeo.dyndns.org/MrMessage/.

NOTES:
1. You need WarpIn to install.
2. There is a zip file version available at http://mamodeo.dyndns.org/MrMessage_bin_03062005.zip.
3. Source is also available at http://mamodeo.dyndns.org/MrMessage_srcbin_03062005.zip.

A new release of Odin has been made available as of 03/27/2005. Go to ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/odin/Daily/odin32bin-20050327-release-xp.zip. More info is at http://odin.netlabs.org/, and the changelog is at ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/odin/Daily/Changelog.

Amouse version 2.7 beta has been updated as of 03/20/2005. This is a scroll mouse device driver that works better on some wheel mice than IBM's driver. It has USB and improved Logitech support, has a widget for XCenter available now, and now supports mice with up to 10 mouse buttons. Go to http://www.nbsoftware.de/sw_ms_enb.htm.

This month's new listings - Drivers:

SciTech SNAP Graphics version 3.0.2 beta has been released as of 03/24/2005. This is a universal video driver, with support for almost 220 graphic chipsets, with extra features like zooming and multi-head. The latest version features support for more ATI and Nvidia chipsets, software OpenGL 1.4 support, optional unattended installation, etc. Go to http://www.scitechsoft.com/ftp/snap/os2/beta/; more info is at http://www.scitechsoft.com/products/ent/snap_os2_content.html. The README is at http://www.scitechsoft.com/ftp/snap/os2/readme.txt, the changelog is at http://www.scitechsoft.com/snap2_changes.txt, and the list of supported chipsets is at http://www.scitechsoft.com/chiplist/snap_os2_chiplist.html.

The IBM version of SciTech SNAP Graphics has been updated to version 2.2.0 as of 02/16/2005. New to this version is support for the ATI Mobility Radeon X300 & X600, and the NVidia GeForce4 MX4000. If you are a registered eComStation user, go to http://www.ecomstation.com/; after signing-in, you can download the driver (a self-extracting executable).

IBM has updated the BIOS for the ThinkPad T43 series as of 03/28/2005. Go to http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/license.do?filename=mobiles/1yuj03ud.exe .

IBM has updated the Embedded Controller Program for the ThinkPad T43 series as of 03/29/2005. Go to http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/license.do?filename=mobiles/1yhj02ud.exe .

USB 1.1 Expanded Control Driver has been released as of 03/16/2005. It provides a device driver to directly control classless USB devices attached to an OS/2 system. It has been specifically designed to ease the development and testing of simple homemade USB devices under OS/2 Use search key usbecd on Hobbes.

This month's new listings - Applications:

The WarpZilla team has released Thunderbird 1.0.2 as of 03/24/2005. This is an update to Thunderbird 0.2 that was demoed by Tony Butka at the Sept. 2003 SCOUG general meeting. It is a stand-alone mail and newsgroup client based on Mozilla that does not include the browser, composer, IRC, and the other frills. A recent announcement said that there will not be any more versions of Mozilla (as produced by the Mozilla Foundation) past the 1.7.x series, so Thunderbird is now the Foundation's official mail/newsgroup client. Go to ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/releases/1.0.2/contrib/. The file name is thunderbird-os2-1.0.2.zip. More info is at http://www.mozilla.org/ports/os2/.

NOTES:
1. This version is primarily security fixes and probably does not contain any functional changes otherwise.
2. Steve Wendt has a WarpZilla tips page at http://www.os2bbs.com/os2news/Warpzilla.html.
3. You must unzip the zip file yourself into a directory and then create or update a program object accordingly.
4. This version requires the GCC runtime: download that at http://download.innotek.de/gccos2/runtime/libc-0.5.1.exe (a self- installing executable). The EMX runtime is no longer required if you don't already have it installed. The GCC runtime installer defaults to x:\OS2\DLL (where x is your OS/2 or eComStation boot drive); it may be preferable to put the runtime in the same directory as the Thunderbird executable.
5. Tony's notes on installing and running Thunderbird are at http://www.scoug.com/os24u/2003/scoug310.mozilla.html.

IBM has released Convenience Pak FixPak 5 as of 02/28/2005. According to Steve Wendt, the majority of changes in it have already been available via IBM's testcase FTP server (kernel updates, and HPFS/JFS fixes). If you are a registered eComStation user, download it at http://www.ecomstation.com/.

NesCafe version 0.58 has been released as of 03/13/2005. This is a Java Nintendo Entertainment System emulator, which includes the source code under the GPL. Go to http://www.davieboy.net/nescafe/.

WarpIn version 1.0.5 has been released as of 03/06/2005. This is an open-source PM installer / uninstaller that can also install quietly through environmental variables. It also offers self-installing executables. Use search key warpin on Hobbes, or go to http://warpin.netlabs.org/.

GSView version 4.7 has been released as of 03/26/2005. It is a graphical document viewer that uses Ghostscript as its' display engine. Go to http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/.

Preferential version 0.7 has been released as of 02/15/2005. It is an add-on for Mozilla that gives you a tree with access to all of the preferences, including those that are not normally exposed. Go to http://preferential.mozdev.org/.

PLCash version 2.00 build 2152 has been released as of 01/30/2005. This is a financial app, intended to replace Quicken, which requires Java 1.4. Go to http://www.arachnoid.com/PLCash/.

NetBeans 4.1 beta was released as of 02/23/2005. NetBeans Developer is a Java IDE written in pure Java. The IDE is based on JFC, and uses its' full feature set. Full support of JavaBeans, use the BeanWizard to generate your own beans in minutes. Integrated full-featured text editor, debugger, compiler, pluggable look and feel, and Form Editor with advanced layout manager support. Go to http://www.netbeans.org/.

PMM_Tbird has been released as of 03/09/2005. It contains two REXX scripts: one to copy all of your PMMail mail folders to Thunderbird mail folders (requires some manual post-processing), and the other to migrate your address books. Use search key pmm_tbird on Hobbes.

eComStation Maintenance Tool is now at version 2.1.8.2 beta as of 03/09/2005. As the name implies, it is used to apply maintenance to eComStation. If you are a registered eComStation user, go to http://www.ecomstation.com/; after signing-in, you can then download the Maintenance Tool.

VERSION has been released as of 03/12/2005. It is a REXX program that displays SYSLEVEL information for the current system. By default, it shows summary information for several common OS/2 components (as detected), but it can be used to display the contents of any single SYSLEVEL file. VERSION is more useful and informative than the VER command, and also much faster and more readable than the SYSLEVEL command. Use search key version_ on Hobbes.

DOSBox/2 alpha 7 has been released. This is a port of DOSBox to OS/2. It is a DOS emulator that uses SDL; it emulates XMS, EMS, CGA, EGA, VGA, VESA, SoundBlaster, Gravis Ultra Sound, and more, for excellent compatibility with older games. Go to http://www.joschs-robotics.de/dosbox/. More info is at http://wiki.netlabs.org/index.php/DOSBox_Port.

UpdCD version 2.49 has been released as of 03/14/2005. It can be used to update the base Warp 3, Warp 4, Warp Server for e-Business, Convenience Pack, or eComStation installation files with FixPaks, and supports the creation of updated installation diskettes. You can use the updated OS/2 image in conjunction 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. NOTE: This is an update that must be applied to the base 2.40 version.

InfoZip's UnZip version 5.52 has been released as of 03/17/2005. Use search key unz552 on Hobbes; more info is at http://www.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/UnZip.html.

Info-ZIP's Zip version 2.31 has been released as of 04/03/2005. Use search key zip23 on Hobbes; more info is at http://www.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/Zip.html.

Guiffy, which was presented at the January 2005 SCOUG general meeting, is now at version 7.0 as of 03/14/2005. It is a file compare / merge (diff-like) tool with a GUI implemented in Java. Some new features and new toolbar icons are included. Go to http://www.guiffy.com/.

bootAble version 3.7 has been released as of 03/20/2005. This is a script which can be used to create a maintenance partition or bootable CD with enough facilities to fully manage and recover your system. It contains support for LVM, HPFS, JFS, FAT32, UDF (turned off by default), and the CD file system. Go to http://www.xs4all.nl/~hrbaan/.

EmperoarTV, which was demoed by Jerry Rash at the July 2004 SCOUG general meeting, is now at version 1.08l as of 03/23/2005. This software brings OS/2 support for the Hauppauge PVR250/350 TV cards, including high- quality MPEG2 hard disk recording and playback. You can listen to FM radio stations in stereo, watch TV programs in excellent image quality, and more. Also available is DVDFront, a front-end that simplifies the creation of video DVDs out of recordings made by EmperoarTV. Go to http://www.s-t.de/emperoar/. NOTE: EmperoarTV can be purchased at Mensys (http://shop.mensys.nl/cgi-bin/db2www/mns_art2.d2w/report?catname=EmperoarTV).

XFree86 version 4.5.0 has been released as of 03/29/2005. It is a port of the (formerly) popular windowing system used on Unix platforms. Go to ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/xfree86/4.5.0/; an installation guide is available at http://www.os2world.com/os2files/xfree86/installation_v4.html.

Jeti/2 version 0.6.3 has been released as of 03/23/2005. It is a Java 1.4x client for instant messenger services, including Jabber, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and ICQ. Go to http://www.ehlertronic.de/jeti2.htm.

ISOFS version 1.0.0 has been released as of 01/25/2005. This is an installable file system for seamless read-only access to the contents of .ISO image files, as suitable for burning on CD. Go to http://home.clara.net/orac/os2.htm#isofs.

JRescuer version 2.16 has been released as of 03/30/2005. JUne (JFS Unerase) version 1.10+ is also included. This is a tool to rescue files from a JFS volume which cannot be mounted. Go to http://en.ecomstation.ru/projects/jrescuer/.

The RAR archiver has been updated to version 3.5 beta 1 as of 04/02/2005. This is a command-line compression utility, with tight general and multimedia compression, recovery record option management of non-RAR archives, RCVT (aRchive ConVersion Tool), and more. Go to http://www.rarlab.com/.

JAlbum version 5.2 has been released as of 04/02/2005. This is a web photo album generator than runs on Java. Go to http://jalbum.net/.

There is a package to support USB webcams in WarpVision available as of 03/03/2005. According to wcamlist, several models from Philips, Logitech, Creative Labs, Samsung, and a few others should work. Go to ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/wvgui/samples/.

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!

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.