Please send press releases to Tim Bryce
By accepting bids so early (14 months in advance), the Warpstock Committee is hoping to announce the location and date of Warpstock 2002 during the Warpstock 2001 conference. It is expected that such early announcements will become the norm for all future Warpstock conferences and will have a number of benefits.
The location of each Warpstock conference is chosen by the Warpstock Committee. The selection is made from bids that are submitted by interested parties who want to host the next conference.
Groups wishing to host Warpstock 2002 should indiciate their intent to bid by sending an e-mail to bids@warpstock.org by June 1, 2001. The e-mail should include the location (i.e. which city), the names of the individuals involved (they would then become the Event Team), and any other information available at that time (e.g. possible locations for the conference).
After submitting the bid intent, the group should work on submitting a completed bid form by August 15, 2001. The bid form, and all other relevant information, can be found at http://www.warpstock.org/2002/bid_form.html, in RTF, PDF, and WordPro formats. Any questions should also be directed to bids@warpstock.org.
We have also updated the code templates on our web site for use with the editor. In tagging languages like HTML you can now highlight text and doubleclick a tag in the template tool to tag it. Making a quick fix or even writing new web pages has never been easier and now you can save them directly to your website.
New features in v2.3 are:
Take a peek at our web site for more information on the Enhanced E's. The PillarSoft Suite has also been updated and can be downloaded from our website.
The Enhanced E is $25 and is available through BMT Micro, Mensys and others. The PillarSoft Suite contains this program plus 12 more OS/2 specific programs for only $99.
Downloads and more information:
PillarSoft:
http://www.pillarsoft.net/
Enhanced E:
http://www.pillarsoft.net/enhanced.html
PillarSoft Suite:
http://www.pillarsoft.net/suite.html
WarPaint is a basic paint program and bitmap viewer for the OS/2 family of operating systems including Warp v3, v4, Warp Server v4.5 and eComStation. It allows the user to work with existing bitmaps or to create bitmaps from scratch.
WarPaint had been knocking around PillarSoft for a few years but had been held from release by a couple of issues that may or may not have affected most users. If this program is a major part of the reason you would be interested in purchasing the PillarSoft Suite, please be sure it works satisfactorily in your case before making any commitment. Most of the old bugaboos are gone so the only major issue has to do with editing a zoomed in bitmap on some video cards.
Bitmap formats supported by WarPaint are:
BMP - VGA - BGA - RLE - DIB - RL4 - RL8 (OS/2 1.1, 1.2, 2.0 / Windows 3.0
bitmap)
GIF (CompuServe Graphics Interchange Format)
PCX (ZSoft PC Paintbrush Image format)
XBM (X Windows bitmap)
TIF (Microsoft/Aldus Tagged Image File Format)
VID (YUV12C M-Motion Frame Buffer)
KPS (IBM KIPS)
IAX (IBM Image Access eXecutive)
TGA - VST - AFI (Truevision Targa/Vista bitmap)
IFF - LBM (Amiga IFF / ILBM Interleaved bitmap format)
SPR - SPRITE (Archimedes Sprite format from RiscOS)
PSE - PSEG - PSEG38PP - PSEG3820 (IBM Printer Page Segment)
The JPG format is not supported internally but because it is such an important format we have made provisions for WarPaint to use a conversion utility to convert JPG's into a temporary BMP file for viewing and editing. The file may be saved as a JPG after editing but the quality is dependant on the jpeg utilities.
WarPaint is not for sale separately but is part of the PillarSoft Suite which is available at most fine OS/2 sales outlets for $129. There is also a link from our website to purchase the suite for $99 at: http://www.pillarsoft.net/suite.html#order
For non-registered users the program is fully functional for evaluation until it hits its drop dead date.
More information and downloads are available at:
WarPaint: http://www.pillarsoft.net/warpaint.html
PillarSoft Suite: http://www.pillarsoft.net/suite.html
This version adds the ability to view and extract individual files in WarpIn (Wpi) archives just like WarpZip allows you to do with any other archiving format. Great for digging out a file or two when you don't need everything from an archive or just to read the documentation or view the bitmaps in an archive without having to unarchive the whole thing.
There is much more to the program than is being discussed here so stop at: http://www.pillarsoft.net/warpzip.html for more information.
We have also updated the PillarSoft Suite with the latest versions of all our programs. More information and downloads of the PillarSoft Suite are available at: http://www.pillarsoft.net/suite.html
WarpZip is $29 and is available through BMT Micro, Mensys and others. The PillarSoft Suite contains this program plus 12 more OS/2 utilities for only $99.
The SFX Installer marries the installation tool for your software and it's own setup tools into one friendly package for point and click installation setups that are personalized for your software. SFX allows you to build an archive in standard or self-extracting format, with or without the installer.
Although the installer is distributed as shareware through BMT Micro, we invite freeware authors to use the installer free of charge as a small token of appreciation for their selfless work. Please read the license for more details.
KidStreet is an educational program for youngsters. Your kids may even have fun while honing their typing, spelling and math skills. KidStreet is in more of a test market phase at this time and is not for sale. Registered users of the PillarSoft Suite may consider it to be another component of the suite and use it indefinately.
More information and downloads are available at:
SFX Installer: http://www.pillarsoft.net/sfx.html
KidStreet: http://www.pillarsoft.net/kidstreet.html
Enhanced E: http://www.pillarsoft.net/enhanced.html
PillarSoft Suite: http://www.pillarsoft.net/suite.html
It takes a close look at how the system capabilities and design philosophies of OS/2 and BeOS can help netizens to send, receive and manage e-mail with built-in options not even available yet in other environments. As you yourself may know, both BeOS and OS/2 have been recognized as two of the most powerful and versatile operating systems. They both are object-oriented and highly compliant with open standards.
Regardless of which operating system(s) you are using now, bookmark IACT's 24x7 Reports page at http://www.iact.net/features/24x7.html and check out the intriguing possibilities of RexxMail, BeOS and OS/2.
New features in v2.2 are:
The Enhanced E is $25 and is available through BMT Micro, Mensys and others. The PillarSoft Suite contains this program plus 12 more OS/2 specific programs for only $99.
Downloads and more information:
PillarSoft:
http://www.pillarsoft.net/
Enhanced E:
http://www.pillarsoft.net/enhanced.html
PillarSoft Suite:
http://www.pillarsoft.net/suite.html
As part of the agreement, Solution Technology and Serenity Systems will evaluate additional device driver development for both TWAIN and USB.
"Applause is an excellent entry level image utility (please see http://www.stiscan.com/imaging/applause.html) which includes STi's Consumer Driver Pack with support for "family" drivers for SCSI scanners from HP, Fujitsu, and EPSON scanners," said Bob St. John, Director of Serenity Systems. "From a value perspective ... if the eCS user is interested in supporting a scanner this is an excellent value. The Applause Image Utility has a suggested retail price of approximately $85."
The various TWAIN for OS/2 (SM) driver packs being refreshed and updated to the TWAIN 1.8 specification. The current version is compliant to the TWAIN 1.6 specifcation. STi has also stabilized the product and updated the various TWAIN Data Sources (scanner drivers) with some newer scanner models:
The Applause Image Utility (TM) has been refreshed and updated to the TWAIN 1.8 compliance. For more and updated information on currently supported devices please visit http://www.stiscan.com/drivers/drivers.html on our web site.
STi is pleased to add these features to eComStation (TM) because we believe that more and more users desire the ability to do image and document management on their PCs, getting images ready for use on web sites and html documents. It is the perfect complement to PMView, which has significant features for editing these images.
"Adding our scanner drivers and a simple imaging utility to eComStation certainly rounds out the extensive support currently provided by eCS. It's great news for eCS users. Now scanning and imaging will be sold as part of operating environment," said Leon Zetekoff, Product Manager of Solution Technology. "We will release the next production versions of Applause, the TWAIN for OS/2 driver packs, and ReView 2000 (TM) as close to the eCS GA as possible which will make all of our existing and new users very happy."
Here are the details of STi's Software:
STi is delighted to announce availability of new products as well as software enhancements and upgrades. These announcements cover:
The flagship document management system, Review 2000, has substantially extended flexability, uses the best database available - DB2, and centralizes management in complex multi-user environments. Review 2000 can migrate Review 1.x and 2.X databases into Review 2000 without requiring Btreive indexes, making conversion simple.
TWAIN for OS/2 Scanner Drivers - Available April 2001
TWAIN Scanner Drivers - Work In Progress
BarCode Anywhere - Available Q2
Review 2000 Document Manager
Release Candidate in April, Public GA release in May, 2001
Joint Development Efforts Planned
Solution Technology and Serenity Systems want to develop specialized implementations of Managed Clients using eCS, STi, and IBM technologies. These specialized, or vertical applications, will feature document and image management combined with improved reliability, manageability and lower support costs afforded to users of server managed client workstations.
While lowering the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for user organizations the new products actually improve the ability to execute tasks associated with document and imaging management. These products will be marketed to consultants and fee service providers who can resell the products to users, or provide these line of business applications as part of the Serenity Systems channel partner program.
Serenity Systems is working with Jacaranda Business Systems, Toronto, Canada (http://www.jbs.ca/), to recruit qualified consultants and technical professionals to market these vertical applications as products or as fee service contracts. Programs will be focused on the needs of large and small users alike, with a range of image and document management requirements.
An important feature of the relationship between the two companies will be the intent to create imaging and document management networks utilizing imaging technology from Solution Technology and workstation management features from eComStation. The resulting document management networks will feature powerful document and image management running in an extremely cost effective computing environment.
An example of these products can be seen as part of a contract recently awarded to STi by a small county government which will use STi's ReView 2000 Document Manager supporting a 10 seat eComStation environment with IBM's Warp Server for eBusiness network and IBM's DB2 for a "Document Records Imaging System." As part of this contract, STi will enhance Review 2000 to add fee processing and accounting as well as aiding in the reconciliation process. ReView 2000 will have certain additional enhancements performed to add the capability to charge for page printing from publicly accessible document search and viewing stations.
STi
STi is a leading supplier of components for image analysis, data-entry, document management applications, and device driver development. Other barcode, forms reading, image data-entry, and departmental document management products for OS/2 and NT are available for use in the governmental, transportation, banking, distribution, and insurance industries among others.
For more information, contact Leon D. Zetekoff, NCE, Product Manager, 1101 South Rogers Circle, Suite 14, Boca Raton, FL 33487 or visit our Web site at http://www.stiscan.com/.
Serenity Systems International
Serenity Systems International is a software OEM and ISV specializing in Managed Client Computing and Computer Telephony Integration. Serenity Systems is currently launching eComStation, an Internet/intranet enabled business desktop environment based on IBM Intel platform software and technologies. eComStation features Wisemachine (TM), the industry's first implementation of Mobile Managed Client Technology. eComStation and other Serenity Systems products are available through a world-wide channel of distributors and resellers.
For more information, contact Bob St. John, Director, 765 Juniper Lane, Lewisville, TX, 75077 or visit our Web site at http://www.serenity-systems.com/.
The introductory special is $20 off the suggested retail price and includes one full year of updates to Junk Spy's spam detection database (a $24 value). Registered users of Version 1 get an extra $10 discount - making the upgrade price a mere $29. The introductory pricing will run through July 31st. Details about upgrading will be sent to users soon.
Junk Spy monitors your e-mail to identify and remove the junk mail you don't want. For more information about Junk Spy and to download the preview of Version 2, visit http://www.sundialsystems.com/junkspy
The library was originally built with EMX in a.out style, but should be easy to modify to build with any OS/2 compiler. There are two components to the library:
The archive containing the source and binaries for dualmode.a as well as a sample application making use of the library can be found at: http://emuos2.netlabs.org/generic/dmlib_r1_srcbin.zip
Although I haven't put together any ReadMes, the source is heavily commented and should be fairly straightforward to understand. The example provided in the dmlib archive should also make things fairly clear. If you'd like a more complex but complete example of how to use this library, ask me for the source code to SNES9x.
You are free to do whatever you want with this source, including using it in a commercial product. The only exception that I'll place on the licensing is that it not be used to create a commercial product solely comprising the Dualmode library and MGLServer (in other words, you've got to have an application that uses it, you can't just sell it as is).
Please send any and all feedback on this source to mamodeo@stny.rr.com.
Available for a Limited Time
MARCH 19, 2001 - Junk Spy, the anti-spam tool from Sundial Systems is about to advance to version 2. For a limited time, you can preview it.
Junk Spy tracks down junk e-mail and deals with it - into the trash, into a folder, sent elsewhere, it's up to you. Think of it as spam maintenance, actually automatic spam maintenance without the effort, for email.
New in version 2 is the Exception Wizard for making it quick and easy to prevent messages that might look like junk from being treated like junk. Other new features extend Junk Spy's spam detection capabilities and expand Junk Spy's integration with your email programs. Also new with version 2 is the ability to run Junk Spy on all common Windows versions.
For information about Junk Spy and to download the preview of version 2, visit http://www.sundialsystems.com/junkspy
You read that correctly - this year's Warpstock will be a three-day event. For the past four years, the Warpstock organizers have tried to squeeze over two dozen presentations into a weekend. Unfortunately, this tight schedule meant that an OS/2 enthusiast was often unable to attend all the presentations he wanted. This year, some presentations will be repeated throughout the three-day event to allow attendees to see more presentations than before.
The Toronto site was chosen this year for a variety of excellent reasons. The Toronto team presented a well-planned bid and should do a stellar job with all of the arrangements for the conference, partly because there is an active OS/2 community in Toronto.
The Warpstock Committee also feels that Canada will be a nice change of pace, and Toronto is one of the most interesting of Canadian cities. After New York and London, Toronto has the largest concentration of live theater in the world. With eighty ethnic nationalities, Toronto is also the most multi-cultural city in world. There are also over 5,000 restaurants and over forty other major visitor attractions.
Finally, the exchange rate for the Canadian dollar should remain favorable throughout the year, thereby allowing attendees and vendors significant savings compared to previous years.
The Warpstock Committee and the Toronto Warpstock Team are looking forward to making Warpstock 2001 the best OS/2 conference ever!
Warpstock 2001 will be held in the Holiday Inn Select Toronto Airport hotel, which is one mile from the airport. As with all prior conferences, the hotel contract offers significant cost reductions if enough attendees stay at the hotel during the conference. In other words, staying at the Holiday Inn is not only very convenient for you, but it also supports Warpstock 2001 and makes more money available for other things, including Warpstock 2002.
The rate for single or double occupancy is $104.95 Canadian, which is approximately $70 US. This makes the hotel about half as expensive as last year. The rate is available from October 2 to October 11, allowing you to make Warpstock 2001 part of a week-long vacation. This rate is guaranteed if the reservation is made before September 17, 2001, and if you use the rate code "Warpstock" (or "Warpstock 2001"). You can make your reservation in one of three ways:
- Calling either 416-674-4340 or 1-800-HOLIDAY. Mention the rate code to the salesperson.
- Using the on-line reservation system at http://www.toronto.com/E/V/TORON/0020/15/70/onlinereservation.html. Specify the rate code in the area labelled "Special Requests or Questions."
- Sending an e-mail to cdn-reservation@bristolhotels.com. Mention the rate code in the e-mail.
More information about the hotel can be found at http://www.toronto.com/E/V/TORON/0020/15/70/1.html, but here are some highlights:
- The Holiday Inn Select Toronto Airport is located 1.5 km (1 mile) east of the Pearson International Airport, Toronto.
- A complimentary shuttle service from the airport to the hotel is available. This service runs every 15 minutes.
- Parking is complimentary for registered hotel guests. Registered guests will receive a voucher for parking.
- For other Warpstock attendees, parking will be $5 per day by showing their Warpstock 2001 registration badge.
- The Holiday Inn Select Toronto Airport features 11 floors with 445 guest rooms. Each guest room has two phones, voice mail, data ports, remote-controlled cable television, in-room movies, coffee-maker, hairdryers, ironing boards and irons, work desk with lamp.
- For a map, visit the hotel's website and click on "Map".
- There is an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) in the lobby for anyone needing to access money. The front desk will also exchange currency should that be needed.
- The hotel accepts payment in any of the following forms: American Express, Cash, Debit Card, Diners Club, Discover, Gift Certificates, JCB, MasterCard, Money Orders, Travellers Cheques, and Visa.
- The in-house restaurant, the Metro Bar And Grill, is located adjacent to the meeting rooms.
- There are at least 10 restaurants within 1/2 mile of the hotel. A list and map will be provided in the registration package.
The Warpstock Committee hopes that you will make your reservations at the Holiday Inn Select Toronto Airport, since doing so will make your stay in Toronto much more enjoyable and make future Warpstock conferences better.
The 5th annual Warpstock conference will be held October 6-8, 2001, in Toronto, Canada, and is produced by Warpstock, Inc., a North Carolina non-profit corporation. The Warpstock annual conference is a gathering of OS/2 users and vendors from around the world for the purpose of education and advocacy. More information is available at the Warpstock 2001 web site: http://www.warpstock.org/ or its mirror site: http://www.ibmforum.com/warpstock/.