Updates from last month's column:

The WarpZilla team has released Mozilla 1.7 alpha as of 02/25/2004. 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/mozilla1.7a/contrib/. There is now an installer version again (mozilla-os2-1.7a-installer.exe), and a zip file (mozilla-os2-1.7a.zip). More info is at http://www.mozilla.org/ports/os2/.

NOTES:
1. I have seen posts on the newsgroups (netscape.public.mozilla.os2) where some people have had problems with the installer version, whereas the zip file version has had fewer problems. HOWEVER: According to Steve Wendt, many people have had problems with plugins and extensions.
2. Steve Wendt has a WarpZilla tips page at http://www.os2bbs.com/os2news/Warpzilla.html.
3. According to Sander Nyman, the size of the zip file is smaller than version 1.6 (by almost 2%), and pages load approximately 4% faster than 1.6 (your mileage may vary).
4. If you install the zip file version, you need to unzip it yourself into a directory and create or update a program object accordingly.
5. Another site that has documentation of plugin support on OS/2 is at http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/OS2.html.
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 (or GKCONTENT.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/libc04fix1.zip. The EMX runtime is no longer required if you don't already have it installed. Unzip the GCC runtime and either place it in the subdirectory where MOZILLA.EXE is, or put it in its' own directory and update the LIBPATH variable in CONFIG.SYS to point to that directory.
8. You should not share a profile between the VACPP (version 1.4.1 and older) and the GCC versions (such as 1.6 or 1.7a), as it may cause problems, especially with secure sites.
9. If you use the InnoTek Font Engine, and you are upgrading from a previous version by installing into an fresh directory, you may need to re-install the InnoTek Font Engine.
10. Tony Butka's notes on installing and running Mozilla are at http://www.scoug.com/os24u/2003/scoug310.mozilla.html.
11. MultiZilla version 1.6.2.0c has been released as of 02/07/2004. This is an extension that adds more features to the tabbed interface in Mozilla. Go to http://multizilla.mozdev.org/.

InnoTek has released as of 02/09/2004 InnoTek Font Engine version 2.30 Preview 5, based on FreeType. Currently, OpenOffice and Mozilla (and other Mozilla-based browsers) are the only applications currently supported. Go to http://www.innotek.de/products/ft2lib/.

NOTE: This Preview 5 version will expire on 03/31/2004.

CBIRC version 1.03 has been released as of 02/07/2004. This is a Java IRC (Internet Relay Chat) client with features that include color, web links, DCC, and more. Go to http://www.bratschi.net/cbirc/.

bootAble version 3.0a has been released as of 02/23/2004. 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/.

The Neptune project ia a giant library of "skins" for the PM123 MP3 player. The catalogs of skins has been updated as of 02/19/2004. Go to http://www.os2ecs.net/neptune/downloa4.shtml.

eComStation Maintenance Tool version 2.1.6.1 has been released as of 02/28/2004. As the name implies, it is used to apply software updates to eComStation. Go to http://www.ecomstation.com/.

NOTES:
1. You must be a registered user of eComStation; after signing-in, then you can download the Maintenance Tool.
2. You need WarpIn to install the Maintenance Tool.
3. Many changes in the user interface have been incorporated into this version, plus other bug fixes and enhancements.

This month's new listings - Drivers:

SciTech SNAP Graphics version 2.3.1 beta has been released as of 02/05/2004. This is a "universal" video driver, with support for over 200 graphics chipsets, and extra features such as zooming and multi- head support. Go to http://www.scitechsoft.com/ftp/snap/os2/beta/. The change log is at http://www.scitechsoft.com/snap2_changes.txt, and the list of supported chipsets is at http://www.scitechsoft.com/ftp/snap/os2/beta/readme.txt. More info is at http://www.scitechsoft.com/products/ent/snap_os2_content.html.

Broadcom has released as of 02/03/2004 version 7.11 of their network card drivers for the BCM57xx chipsets. Go to http://www.broadcom.com/drivers/downloaddrivers.php?cookiecheck=1.

NOTE: If you use Mozilla, IBM Web Browser, or Netscape 4.61, it will warn you that your browser is not optimized to view their website to its' full capabilities; click on the link "Continue without upgrading" and you can then proceed to the next screen, at which point you can download the driver. Be sure that cookies are enabled on your browser, otherwise you won't be able to proceed any further.

DaniN512.FLT version 0.1.5 has been released as of 02/22/2004. This filter driver allows removable media with large sectors (1024 and 2048 bytes/sector) to work with other drivers which only support 512-byte sectors. Use search key danin512 on Hobbes.

DaniS506 version 1.6.8 has been released as of 02/29/2004. 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, Serial ATA, and much more. Use search key danis on Hobbes.

This month's new listings - Applications:

The WarpZilla team has released Firefox (formerly known as Firebird) version 0.8 as of 02/12/2004. This is an update to Firebird 0.6.1 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. This will eventually replace Mozilla (on the browser side). Go to ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/0.8/contrib/. The file name is firefox-os2-0.8.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/os2news/Warpzilla.html.
2. You must unzip the file yourself into a directory and then create or update a program object.
3. This requires the GCC runtime; go to http://download.innotek.de/gccos2/runtime/libc04fix1.zip. Unzip the GCC runtime and either place it in the subdirectory where the Firefox executable is, or put it in its' own directory and update the LIBPATH variable in CONFIG.SYS to point to that directory.
4. Tony Butka's notes on installing and running Firefox are at http://www.scoug.com/os24u/2003/scoug310.mozilla.html.
5. There are some icons for Firefox available as of 02/13/2004. Use search keys firefoxicon or os2firefox on Hobbes.

The WarpZilla team has also released Thunderbird version 0.5 as of 02/23/2004. 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 contain the browser. This will eventually replace Mozilla (on the mail & newsgroup side). Go to ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/releases/0.5/contrib/. The file name is thunderbird-0.5-os2.zip. More info is at http://www.mozilla.org/ports/os2/.

NOTES:
1. You must unzip the file yourself into a directory and then create or update a program object.
2. This requires the GCC runtime; go to http://download.innotek.de/gccos2/runtime/libc04fix1.zip. Unzip the GCC runtime and either place it in the subdirectory where the Thunderbird executable is, or put it in its' own directory and update the LIBPATH variable in CONFIG.SYS to point to that directory.
3. Tony Butka's notes on installing and running Thunderbird are at http://www.scoug.com/os24u/2003/scoug310.mozilla.html.

InnoTek has released as of 02/16/2004 OS/2 Kit for Acrobat Reader 4.05 Release 3. This is Acrobat Reader 4.05 for Windows, with an Odin-based OS/2 Kit that allows it to run under OS/2. A browser plugin is included, but must be manually installed. There are no plans to support Acrobat 5.1, but Acrobat 6 is expected to be supported in a future release. Go to http://www.innotek.de/products/acrobatos2/; the README is at http://www.innotek.de/products/acrobatos2/acrobatos2readme_e.html, and the FAQ is at http://www.innotek.de/products/acrobatos2/acrobatos2faq_e.html.

NOTES:
1. The InnoTek Runtime for OS/2 is required; download it at http://www.innotek.de/products/innowin/innowingeneral_e.html. However, it seems to give me a Trap 0008 error on my ThinkPad T20 (P3-700 with 256MB RAM) during installation, even after updating OS2KRNL & OS2LDR on a suggestion by Steven Levine; it did install OK on a P3-800 with 512MB RAM on a older MSI motherboard that Jerry Rash gave me. So your mileage may vary.
2. The plugin does not work if you use LIBPATHSTRICT=T in a command file prior to invoking Mozilla or Firefox, according to Steve Wendt.

InnoTek has released as of 02/24/2004 GCC version 3.2.2 beta 4. This includes compilers for C and C++, as well as a C library (libc) ported from BSD, and updated binutils. The full GCC compiler suite (not included) also covers Objective C, Java, and FORTRAN 77. Go to http://www.innotek.de/products/gccos2/.

UpdCD version 2.41 was released as of 02/08/2004. It can be used to update the base Warp 4, Warp Server for e-Business, or eComStation 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. NOTE: This is an update that must be applied to the base 2.40 version.

TAME/2 version 1.0 Release Candidate 3 has been released as of 02/19/2004. This is a GUI front-end for SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy), which now comes as a complete scanning solution, together with SANE 1.0.13 for SCSI and USB scanners. It has a preview window, supports MMOS2 image formats and light tables, and more. Many scanners from Microtek, HP, Epson, Mustek, Umax, and more are known to be working with this package. Go to http://www.os2warp.be/index2.php?name=tamehome, or use search key tame100 on Hobbes.

UPS Monitor version 1.3 has been released as of 02/01/2004. It will monitor the status of your UPS, and provide shutdown services to the operating system. Go to http://home.att.net/~LPAInfo/upsmonitor.html to see if your UPS is supported, and if so, to download the appropriate monitor that supports your UPS.

NOTES:
1. You can also use search key upsmon on Hobbes.
2. UPS Monitor is now freeware.

cdrtools version 2.01a25 has been released as of 02/16/2004. This contains cdrecord (discussed in the Sept. 2003 Mr. Know-It-All at http://www.scoug.com/os24u/2003/scoug309.mrkia.html), readcd, cdda2wav, and mkisofs. Use search key cdrtools on Hobbes.

z! has been updated to "test 11" status as of 02/26/2004. This is a text-mode MP3 player that can handle ogg, streaming audio (Shoutcast), and has Normalize support. Go to http://dink.org/z/. A FAQ is available at http://dink.org/z/zmsgbase.html?read=A4E7P6Y7K5.

Odin Bug Report Generator version 0.5.010 test release 1 has been released as of 02/22/2004. This is a tool to easily generate Odin bug reports. An older version of this program is now included with Odin. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/odinusers/files/.

OdinTool version 0.5.004 has been released as of 02/22/2004. This allows you to install Odin ZIP files comfortably, and keep configuration settings. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/odinusers/files/, or use search key odintool on Hobbes.

VCDGear version 1.76 has been released as of 02/17/2004. This program converts to/from various VCD (Video CD) MPEG formats, including .raw and .bin CD track formats, .mpg, .dat, etc. It is helpful in mastering VCDs (or extracting MPEG data from VCDs for computer playback). Go to http://www.vcdgear.com/.

Firewall Documentation for the MPTS firewall and VPN feature has been updated to version 1.3. This INF document describes how to configure and use the powerful built-in firewall feature with support for IP packet filtering and IPSec VPN tunnels that have been included in TCP/IP version 4.1 and above. Go to http://www.cs-club.org/~alex/os2/firewall.html, or use search key firewall_doc on Hobbes.

Ghostscript version 8.14 has been released as of 02/23/2004. It is a freeware PostScript interpreter/converter for generating Adobe Acrobat (PDF) documents; it is also the display engine for GSView. Go to ftp://mirror.cs.wisc.edu/pub/mirrors/ghost/AFPL/gs814/. Information on Ghostscript is at http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/.

NOTE: Tony Butka discusses Ghostscript and GSView in the March 2003 Ink (http://www.scoug.com/os24u/2003/scoug303.ink.html).

eBay Watch/2 version 1.09v has been released as of 02/28/2004. As the name implies, it is an eBay auction management tool. Go to http://www.eclipse.net/~knkrchnr/.

DVDDAO version 0.0.1 has been released as of 02/29/2004. It is a tool for writing DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM. Use search key dvddao on Hobbes. NOTE: You need ASPIROUT.SYS version 1.1b5 or above.

ZOC version 4.14 has been released as of 02/23/2004. It is an award- winning telnet, secure shell (SSH), rlogin, modem, and ISDN communications program. Go to http://www.emtec.com/zoc/.

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 2004 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.