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## News Page 4

November 22

FotoGet/2 Version 0.9.10

FotoGet/2 is intended to be a freeware utility to ease the transfer of pictures between a digital camera and your OS/2 (eCS) PC.

The camera must be accessible by a driveletter.

Usage is (and should be) obvious and easy. There are no switches, no options or whatever, that are not visible on the main window.

FotoGet/2 makes use of the WPS. It optionally creates light tables instead of folders and optionally creates shadows of subfolders on the desktop.

This is the first public release and should be considered a public beta.
Hobbes Incoming: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/incoming/fotoget0910.zip
Hobbes Search: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/cgi-bin/h-search?key=fotoget

November 22

Fixpak 4 withdrawn from ecomstation.com

Incase people begin to wonder where it is... There are two problems with OS/2 MCP fixpak 4. The most serious one being with the os2ldr (the loader that kicks eCS to live when your PC starts). There are problems with IRQ....

Until this is solved fixpak 4 is withdrawn....

November 22

SmartBackup 0.9 beta is now available for public testing

SmartBackup takes the time and guess work out of backing up large drives or directories to CD, DVD or other low-capacity media. It supports smart disc spanning to safely store all of your files while minimizing the number of discs needed.

SmartBackup is written entirely in Rexx and sports an optional PM graphical user interface. Even better is that SmartBackup is currently free for all use. However, if you believe SmartBackup is a valuable tool and wish to promote future development, you are asked to make a small donation.

And SmartBackup is extensible through simple Rexx scripts. I have included two such "post-processing" scripts in the distribution. One records files directly to CD-R/RW while the other first Zip compresses the files and then records to CD-R/RW. The former method is quick while the latter maintains full long filenames and Extended Attributes. Users are free to create and distribute their own post-processing scripts to suit their unique needs.
or wait for the official 1.0 release which you will be able to find here:
http://freiheit.syntheticdimension.net/ecomstation-apps.php

Please send bug reports to freiheitDESPAM@syntheticdimension.net and I will make every reasonable effort to correct the issue before the official 1.0 release.

November 21

JIP - DNS Update Client

If you want to set up a server on your own hard drive--to host a web site or email services for example, you somehow have to get control of the IP. One easy way to do this is to make use of a third-party DNS-hosting service. You either specify a registered domain name or use one of their subdomain, and specify the IP where you want anybody referencing your URL to be sent. This IP is the IP assigned to one of your systems (possibly on a LAN) by your ISP. The URL and IP is kept in your account, which is accessable over the Internet.

Here's the catch: nearly all ISP's assign only dynamic IP's, which are may change over time. So what IP do you set up in your DNS-hosting account? What's worse, you may get the right IP in your account initially only to have your ISP change the IP of your server. Now your URL no longer points to your server! How do you avoid this?

The answer is a program called a DNS update client, a small untility which loads at boot time, and runs in the background. The DNS update client monitors the current IP, and when it detects a change, sends a command to the DNS-hosting service to update your account with the new IP. In this way, the IP in the DNS-hosting account is kept current, and always points to your server.

One of the more popular DNS-hosting services is DYNDNS.ORG. This service lists a number of third-party DNS update clients on its web site; unfortunately virtually all of them are for Windows. There are no OS/2 versions, and I couldn't get any of the platform-independent versions working in my system, which is a LAN connected to an SMC Barricade router.

I was saved by a very friendly Norwegian developer called Osuman Bashiro. I noted that he was finishing up a "pure Java" DNS client that was not router specific. I contacted him, and yes he was willing to work with me to get an OS/2 version working!
The result is JIP, downloadable from the author's site at
http://www.bashiro.com/soft/Products/Download/Other_Os/Jip_06_OSInd.ZIP
Osuman has also written version of JIP for other DNS-providers. These can be downloaded from
http://www.bashiro.com/soft/Products/Download/Jip_General/jip_general.html
NOTES:
~~~~~~~~~

1. JIP requires that Java 1.4 be installed. I have only tested it with with Innotech's 1.4.2, so I don't know if it works with the Golden Code version.

2. Jip needs to be started with JIP.CMD, a short OS/2 command file included the archive. The easiest thing to do is to create an object or shadow of that program in a folder on your Desktop. You will need to change the Device Letter and possibly the Path to match your configuration.

3. It helps if you make sure both the "Start Minimized" and "Close window on exit" boxes on the Properties "Session" page are checked.

JIP is freeware, but I know the author would greatly appreciate any feedback you could provide.

November 20

IBM Convenience Package Fixpak XR_C004

IBM Convenience Package Fixpak XR_C004 (English and German) is available from http://www.ecomstation.com . The fixpak can be applied with eCS MT 2.1.4.0 or unzipped and applied with the standard IBM fixtool.

[Moderator note: FP4 is not listed under the current downloads. Type "XR_C004" (English) or "XRGC004" (German) into the Search box, or look in the Fixes-Features/fixpack directory on the ecomstation.com FTP server. FP4 is also available to IBM Software Choice subscribers, but it doesn't appear to be listed anywhere.

If you have Amouse installed, be aware that after applying FP4 you have to backlevel 2 DLLs or your system will hang at the WPS initialization on reboot. WPSTKMOU.DLL and WPCONFIG.DLL. Thanks to Gregg Young who posted this work around on the eCOmStation discussion list.
From Readme2:
=====================================
Convenience Package Release 2 refresh
V4.52 fixed APARs
FixPak Name= XR_C004
Build level = 14.097
=====================================
APAR=IC33432
TABLES PRINT BACKGROUNDS. NEED TO ENABLE/DISABLE PRINTING OF BACKGROUNDS.
APAR=JR16806
PMMERGE TRAPS WHILE PROCESSING A WM_QUERYWINDOWPARAM MESSAGE
APAR=JR16849
PANIC IN SMSETSWAPFLAGS DUE TO HPFS DURING SWAP TIME
APAR=JR17684
TRAP IN DOSCALL1.DLL XCPTVERIFYREGISTRATIONRECORD DUE TO REGISTRATION RECORD POINTER BEING NULL
APAR=JR17842
PROBLEMS WITH DUMP FORMATTER, VARIOUS ERRORS WITH RC: 5
APAR=JR17862
DOSSLEEP AND TIMERS DON'T WAKE UP AFTER 49.7 DAY ROLLOVER
APAR=JR17892
TRAP IN THESMTE_GET OR THEMTE_GET
APAR=PJ28186
POSITION OF NEGATIVE CURRENCY WRONG IN CZECHLANGUAGE.
APAR=PJ28243
OFFSETS WRONG IN TCB_S STRUCTURE OF KERNEL.SDF AND KERNELD.SDF
APAR=PJ28258
WINOS/2 WINFILE HAS WRONG HD FREE SPACE WHEN THE PARTITION IS GREATER THEN 2 GIG.
APAR=PJ28260
SYSTEM HANG WHILE DISPLAYING HFS0102 MESSAGE DURING BOOT.
APAR=PJ28318
CAN'T HANDLE DBCS DIRECTORY NAME 0X**5C VIA NFS
APAR=PJ28336
SESDD32.SYS TRAPS WHEN RUNNING "WIN" WITH NO ARGUMENTS
APAR=PJ28413
PCOMM FAILS WITH NETFINITY RWC ON SCITECH CLIENTS
APAR=PJ28420
SYSTEM HANGS IF UIA PROCESS TRIES TO REGISTER FOR CREATE_PROFILE OR DELETE_PROFILE EVENTS
APAR=PJ28430
NO MEMORY ERROR POPUP IS SEEN ON COPY OPERATION FROM VIEW.EXE
APAR=PJ28474
DAX CALL LSTRCMPI(..) IS RETURNING WRONG RETUN CODES.
APAR=PJ28522
TRAP IN PMSHELL.EXE WHILE SWITCHING BETWEEN APPLICATIONS USING A LT-TAB
APAR=PJ28533
TRAP IN PMMERGE WHILE DELETING MENUITEM
APAR=PJ28546
CHARECTER TYPED ON IBM DIRECTOR TERMINAL ( ON WIN NT) IS SEEN AFTER 2 MINUTES ON WSEB + XRJE002
APAR=PJ28548
SYSTEM STILL HANGS AFTER 49.7 DAYS
APAR=PJ28589
TRAP 000E IN SESDD32 IN STRCPY DURING SESQUERYPROCESSINFO PROCESSING
APAR=PJ28592
LSTRCMP FAILS IN DAX.
APAR=PJ28597
WRONG CHARACTERS ARE DISPLAYED WHEN 16PT OR LARGER OF HYOJUN MINCHO IS SPECIFIED.
APAR=PJ28630
IME TOOLBAR APPEARS WHILE STARTING JAVA APP.
APAR=PJ28641
FORMAT INCORRECTLY UPDATES IFS=HPFS386 AUTOECHECK INFO
APAR=PJ28646
SYS3179 OR OTHER FLOATING POINT EXCEPTIONS IN CUSTOMER APPS OR POSSIBLY PRINT DRIVERS
APAR=PJ28662
RING 3 TRAPS AND ODD BEHAVIOR IN DOS AND WIN APPS WHEN ACCESSING FLOPPY DISK AT ACP2/MCP2/FP16 LEVELS
APAR=PJ28666
ICON TEXT WITHOUT ANY ICON APPEARS ON DESKTOP WHILE RUNNING TEST CASE
APAR=PJ28673
RC = 132109 IS RETURNED BY UNICREATEUCONVOBJECT AFTER 65535 ITERATIONS.
APAR=PJ28746
GPF IN ISGDI2VM/IFGDI2VM WHEN RUNNING WINOS2 AT 16.7M COLORS
APAR=PJ28753
NETSCAPE FLOATING COMPONENT BAR BECOMES VISIBLE WHEN DESKTOP IS LOCKED.
APAR=PJ28831
EURO SYMBOL GETS CORRUPTED WHEN COPY/PASTE BETWEEN PM<->WINOS2..
APAR=PJ28840
INCORRECT PASSWORD DIALOG DISPLAYED WHEN CORRECT PASSWORD IS ENTERED
APAR=PJ28871
TRAP AT STRP_COMMON+649 OR SO WHEN TRACEBUF=.../D=ALL SPECIFIED
APAR=PJ28889
HANG IN JFS DURING WINDOWS 2000 INSTALLATION USING VIRTUAL PC SOFTWARE.
APAR=PJ28941
TRAP 000E IN VMALIASTOALIAS DOING PROCDUMP
APAR=PJ28961
IWB 2.0 TRAPS IN ASIACOL.DLL WHEN LOADING A PAGE IN TRADITIONAL CHINESE.
APAR=PJ28972
REGISTRY EDITOR FAILS TO EXPORT FILE FROM COMMAND LINE
APAR=PJ29034
TRAP IN THESMTE_GET OR THEMTE_GET
APAR=PJ29066
TRAP IN _QSSEM
APAR=PJ29126
BLDLEVEL FEATURE IMPLEMENTATION FOR JFS.IFS
APAR=PJ29152
BLDLEVEL FEATURE TO BE EXTENDED TO JFS.IFS RELATED UTILITIES.
APAR=PJ29180
TRAP 000E IN PLD_WRITETK DURING PROCDUMP
APAR=PJ29197
Traps/hangs in WINOS/2 windows when running ACP2 SMP and SciTech
APAR=PJ29250
'\' IS REPLACED BY A JUNK CHARACTER WHEN A REG FILE IS IMPORTED
APAR=PJ29349
TRAP IN THEPD_GET]

November 20

New version of eCSMT ( 2.1.4.0 )

" eCS MT 2.1.4.0 is available for download.

Because of changes in the eCSMT control file, this update will not be automatically downloaded and installed by eCS MT 2.1.3.9. If you have already experienced the problem, it can usually be corrected by copying the \var\ecsmt\ecsmt_ini.sav file back to \var\ecsmt\ecsmt.ini.

I would appreciate any feedback regarding errors or function.
Chuck McKinnis
mckinnis@attglobal.net

Build 2.1.4.0
* Support the application of Convenience Package FixPak XR_C004.
* Removed the download and install of InnoTek OS/2 Kit for Java until such time as InnoTek uses a naming convention that identifies the module as something other than "install.exe".
* Handle detection of strange installs of Mozilla and/or Firebird.
* Modify eCS MT install to bypass modules already installed.
* Display all applicable updates regardless of installability.
* Bypass downloads of ecsmt*.exe files if running current version.
* Remove the download.ini file and its use.
* Permit the re-application of updates pre-installed on eCS 1.1.
* Navigate to the appropriate window when missing, superseded, or pre-requisite updates are selected.
* Prevent certain updates from copying control files to targets.
* Provide supersede information for applicable updates.
* Handle updates to drives other than the target boot drive."

November 19

RexxMail build 20031119.164807 released.

A new build of RexxMail is available from my web site:
http://www.degeus.com/rexx/rexxmail_english.html
or
http://www.degeus.com/rexx/rexxmail_nederlands.html

The distribution ZIP file is also available from the Hobbes repository:

http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/cgi-bin/h-search?key=rexxmail

RexxMail is an object-oriented WPS e-mail client, written in REXX, which uses the standard WPS user interface. It features an extensive range of functions and options with full command-line access.

RexxMail is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, see: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

Note that this version of RexxMail differs quite a bit from previous releases. It incorporates many new features as well as changes to existing ones, so please read the docs (Reference Guide and Tutorial, now both in INF format) carefully! Note also that due to the change in format of the documentation, the HTML-based tutorial and information files have been removed from the web site.

RexxMail features include:
Standard WPS interface.
Full command-line access to all functions.
Send mail from any folder on your desktop.
Edit/view messages using your favourite editor/viewer.
Add addresses to messages using standard drag & drop methods.
Add attachments to messages using standard drag & drop methods.
Compatible with external junk mail filter software.
Message transmission status indicator/byte counter/progress bar.
Display message dates in RFC or ISO-sorted form.
Display message times as original, local system, or UTC times.
Calculates time zone offset using any RFC 868 time server.
User exits to run external programs before/after:
opening user folders;
collecting mail;
sending mail.
User exits to run external programs for collecting/sending mail.
User exits to run external programs for processing attachments.
Process/create/edit messages from the command line, a user script, or any other program with user exits.
Add attachments to messages from the command line, a user script, or any other program with user exits.
Automagically collect/delete/skip mail on a POP3 mail server, based on sender/recipients/subject or junk/virus mail flag.
Automagically move incoming mail to specific folders (or delete it), based on sender/recipients/subject or junk/virus mail flag.
Automagically move outgoing mail to specific folders (or delete it), based on sender/recipients/subject.
Collect mail from a POP3 server through an interactive interface to:
Collect a message and delete it from the server;
Collect a message and leave it on the server;
Delete a message from the server without collecting it;
Skip a message on the server for later processing.
User-customizable signals for:
Incoming messages;
Outgoing messages;
Incoming junk mail;
Incoming virus mail.
And more.

November 19

OS/2 e-Zine: November 2003 Issue Up

The November 2003 issue of OS/2 e-Zine should be up.

As always, let me know if there are any glitches.

Dial-up users be warned, this is another screen-shot heavy issue
Contents:
-------------
- eComStation 1.1 from a user's view Part 2
- Bootable CD's
- Installing UML on VisualAge Smalltalk
- and more...

Url: http://www.os2ezine.com

November 18

coolfm 2.11

There are only 7 cities in the world with working FM stations (according to the list of cities known to coolfm). So, if you discover FM stations in your city then inform us.
What's new:
1) New icon in eComStation style, thanks to Validat0r
2) 'Shaker' event -- useful for morning wakeup
3) Extended plugin for BT8xx fm-tuners, thanks to Axel Hagedorn
4) Changed format of skins and application resources
5) Auto-split audio stream on pieces.

coolfm is a program to control computer FM tuners (are there usable AM tuners?!)

Url: http://ecomstation.ru/coolfm

November 17

Realtek RTL8169 MAC driver 1.03

From: http://www.os2world.com

A version of Realtek RTL8169 MAC driver 1.03 had been uploded to Hobbes:

http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/cgi-bin/h-search?key=rtgnda03.zip

November 16

ODIN daily release

ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/odin/daily/

http://odin.netlabs.org/

"Odin is the name of the project and software that allows users to run Win32 (Windows 95 and Windows NT) applications in OS/2 Warp operating system natively, almost as if they were intended to be OS/2 applications in the first place. It also makes porting from Win32 to OS/2 easier by providing a Win32 API implementation in OS/2: the Odin32 API."
ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/odin/daily/odin32bin-20031116-debug.zip
ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/odin/daily/odin32bin-20031116-release.zip

/* $Id: ChangeLog,v 1.2647 2003/11/14 13:44:50 sandervl Exp $ */
2003-11-14: Sander van Leeuwen < sandervl@innotek >
- USER32: o Updates
2003-11-12: Sander van Leeuwen < sandervl@innotek >
- GDI32/USER32:
o Clip/visible region changes
2003-11-12: Dietrich Teickner < Dietrich_Teickner@t-online >
- SHELL32: o Resource updates
o Shell file operations updates
2003-11-11: knut st. osmundsen < bird-changelog@innotek >
- MAKE: o Added a set of custombuild rules to the root makefile.

November 16

GSview v4.5

"GSview is a graphical interface for Ghostscript under MS-Windows or OS/2. Ghostscript is an interpreter for the PostScript page description language used by laser printers. For documents following the Adobe PostScript Document Structuring Conventions, GSview allows selected pages to be viewed or printed. GSview requires Ghostscript 7.04-9.19."

GSview v4.5 web site: http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/get45.htm

Changes in version 4.5:
* Fix Page Offset when printing.
* Fix slow behaviour when displaying on remote X11 server.
* Fix crash in X11 version when the LANG environment variable is not set.
* Redisplay files correctly after they are changed.
* Find pstoedit using registry information.
* A few other minor bug fixes.

GSview was written by Russell Lang at Ghostgum Software Pty Ltd.
GSview 4.5 should be used with Ghostscript 7.04 or later Ghostscript v8.11: http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/doc/AFPL/get811.htm

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