Updates from last month's column:

The WarpZilla team has released Mozilla 1.8a3 as of 08/19/2004. 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. Go to ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mozilla/releases/mozilla1.8a3/contrib/. There is now an installer version again (mozilla-os2-1.8a3-installer.exe), and a zip file (mozilla-os2-1.8a3.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. If you install the zip file version, you need to unzip it yourself into a directory and create or update a program object accordingly.
3. Another site that has documentation of plugin support on OS/2 is at http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/OS2.html.
4. 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).
5. 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 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 (for reasons listed in the next note).
6. Mike Kaply of IBM posted to the netscape.public.mozilla.os2 newsgroup that he figured out how to share a profile between version 1.4.1 or older (which is compiled with the VACPP compiler), and version 1.5 or greater (which is compiled with the GCC compiler): Make sure MOZRMI36.DLL is NOT in your LIBPATH and only exists where the version 1.4 MOZILLA.EXE is; conversely on the version 1.5 or greater side, make sure the GCC runtime DLLs (LIBC05 & GCC322) are also NOT in your LIBPATH and only exists where the version 1.5 or greater MOZILLA.EXE is.
7. An alternate set of icons for Mozilla are available at http://members.cox.net/greenemk/os2/mozstuff/mymozillastuff.html.
8. Tony's notes on installing and running Mozilla 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 6.11 as of 08/25/2004. 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).

Open Watcom, which was featured at two SCOUG general meetings in 2002, is now at version 1.3 as of 08/03/2004. This is an open-source release of the Watcom C, C++, and FORTRAN compilers, and includes an OS/2 installer. Harry Chris Motin carefully took us through download and installation issues in March 2002; read it at http://www.scoug.com/os24u/2002/scoug204.watcom.html. Michal Necasek, our June 2002 co-presenter, has an article describing how to set up Open Watcom at http://pages.prodigy.net/michaln/os2/Watcom11c.html. Go to http://downloads.openwatcom.org/ftp/. More info about Open Watcom is at http://www.openwatcom.org/; however, as of 08/23/2004, the web page has NOT been updated yet.

Mr. Message for OS/2 was updated as of 08/08/2004. It is an instant messenger client, which is capable of communicating over AOL's Instant Messenger network using the OSCAR protocol (used in the Win32 AIM clients, jBuddy, gAIM, Kopete, ICQ, and a variety of other clients). A number of new features/fixes are included. Go to http://mamodeo.dyndns.org/MrMessage_bin_08082004.zip. NOTE: Source is available at http://mamodeo.dyndns.org/MrMessage_srcbin_08082004.zip.

eComStation Maintenance Tool version 2.1.7.3 has been released as of 08/23/2004. 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. Starting with this release, this requires the eComStation Maintenance Tool Utilities (a separate download) for proper installation and maintenance.
4. After installing and executing this release, you will not be able to revert to an earlier release.

JRescuer has been updated as of 08/17/2004. It is a tool to rescue files from a JFS volume which can't be mounted. Use search key jrescuer on Hobbes.

RSJ CD-Writer version 5.52 has been released as of 08/19/2004. It has support for DVD writing, freedb, DAO (Disk At Once), IDE drives, creating bootable CD's, and more. A few new features and fixes are included. Go to http://www.rsj.de/stage/en/cdwriter/cd_os2.asp. NOTE: It must be purchased at this site or at Mensys (http://www.mensys.nl).

PCI+AGP Bus Sniffer version 0.49d has been released as of 08/24/2004. This tool shows PCI, AGP, and CardBus device information, has a huge database of known vendors and devices, and can tell what IRQs are supported by which slot. Use search key pci on Hobbes.

A utility to change IRQs on PCI cards has been updated as of 08/25/2004. Use search key spciirq on Hobbes.

The RAR archiver has been updated to version 3.40 beta 5. 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/.

DaniS506 version 1.6.10 has been released as of 08/13/2004. It is a 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 - Drivers:

IBM has updated as of 08/06/2004 the Single Mouse driver. It integrates the TrackPoint features, making MOUSE2.SYS obsolete, and has some APM fixes. It also supports touch-screen monitors. Go to http://service.software.ibm.com/os2dd/free/SingleMouse/smouse.exe.

IBM has updated as of 08/24/2004 the Intel PRO/1000 Gigabit Ethernet Copper/Fiber driver. This supports the following hardware controllers: 82540EM, 82540EP, 82541EI, 82544GC (all Copper), 82540, 82543GC (Fiber), and 82544EI (both Copper & Fiber). Go to http://service.software.ibm.com/swchoice/os2dd/ibmgu.exe.

NOTES:
1. You need a current Software Choice subscription to download.
2. If you are a registered eComStation user, download it at http://www.ecomstation.com (after signing-in).
3. This does NOT support the 82543GC Copper Gigabit adapter or earlier versions.

IBM has updated as of 08/25/2004 the drivers for PCCard 8.0 (Cardbus) support. Go to http://service.software.ibm.com/swchoice/os2dd/cardbus.exe.

NOTES:
1. You need a current Software Choice subscription to download.
2. If you are a registered eComStation user, download it at http://www.ecomstation.com (after signing-in). HOWEVER: As of 08/25/2004, the latest version has NOT been posted to the eComStation website.

IBM has updated the BIOS for the ThinkPad T23 as of 08/06/2004. Go to http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/license.do?filename=mobiles/spsd1a62.exe.

IBM has updated the Embedded Controller Program (H8 controller firmware) for the ThinkPad T23 as of 08/06/2004. Go to http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/license.do?filename=mobiles/embc1d23.exe.

IBM has updated the BIOS for the ThinkPad T30 as of 08/17/2004. Go to http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/license.do?filename=mobiles/spsd1i69.exe.

IBM has updated the Embedded Controller Program (H8 controller firmware) for the ThinkPad T30 as of 08/17/2004. Go to http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/license.do?filename=mobiles/embd1i18.exe.

IBM has updated the BIOS for the ThinkPad T4x series as of 08/26/2004. Go to http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/license.do?filename=mobiles/spsd1rd4.exe.

The Network Interface Card Pak (NICPak) has been updated as of 06/09/2004. This is a collection of various NIC drivers, and a tool for detecting and installing them. Go to http://www.os2warp.be/index2.php?name=nicpak.

This month's new listings - Applications:

SoX (also known as Sound Exchange) is at version 12.17.4 as of 08/04/2004. It translates sound samples between different file formats, and optionally applies various sound effects. Some of the formats supported are AIFF, AU, PCM, CD-R (music CD format), VOC, WAV, and many others. Use search key sox on Hobbes, or go to http://sox.sourceforge.net/.

FlashBlock version 0.8.4 has been released as of 07/16/2004. This is a Mozilla extension that replaces Flash animations with a "click to play" placeholder. Go to http://flashblock.mozdev.org/.

ChatZilla version 0.9.64f has been released as of 08/10/2004. This is a Mozilla extension to enable IRC (Internet Relay Chat) from Mozilla. Go to http://www.hacksrus.com/~ginda/chatzilla/xpi/chatzilla-0.9.64f.xpi; more info is at http://www.hacksrus.com/~ginda/chatzilla/ and http://extensionroom.mozdev.org/more-info/chatzilla. NOTE: According to Steve Wendt, this version adds SSL and full Unicode nicknames, but is a bit problematic.

jSyncManager version 3.2 alpha 2 has been released as of 08/16/2004. This is a Java tool for synchronizing with Palm handhelds. Go to http://www.jsyncmanager.org/.

EMT4PM version 4.34 has been released as of 08/16/2004. It is a PM utility to build disk images, and write images to disk. Go to http://dvalot.free.fr/emtcopy.htm.

WarpVision, which was demoed by Jordan Fox at the June 2004 SCOUG general meeting, was updated as of 08/20/2004. This is a player for DivX-3, DivX-4, DivX-5, XViD, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, AVI, and ASF, with MP3/AC3 audio, DVD support, and a Mozilla plugin. It also includes "skin" support (see note 1 below). Go to ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/wvgui/wvgui20040820.zip. Info is at http://os2.kiev.ua/en/wv.php.

NOTES:
1. There are downloadable "skins" available at http://os2.kiev.ua/en/wv.skins.php.
2. There is also a command-line (as of 05/04/2003) version of WarpVision available at ftp://ftp.os2.kiev.ua/wvcli/.
3. According to the authors, you must delete VIDEO2.INI prior to updating from a previous version of WarpVision.
4. According to Steve Wendt, WarpVision GUI is shareware and some builds may be limited to 15 minutes of playback; however, Mark Abramowitz says that both are not (or may not be) the case.
5. The WarpVision team accepts donations at https://secure.bmtmicro.com/ECommerce-Offsite/11980000.html, or at http://shop.mensys.nl/uk/warpvision.

Tame/2 version 1.0 has been released as of 08/21/2004. This is a GUI front-end for SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy), which now comes as a complete scanning solution, together with SANE 1.0.14 for SCSI and USB scanners. It has a preview window, supports MMOS2 image formats and light tables, and more. Many scanners from Microtek, Epson, HP, Mustek, Umax, and more are known to be working with this package. Use search key tame on Hobbes, or go to http://www.os2world.com/goran/tame.htm.

JFTP version 3.3 has been released as of 08/15/2004. This is a graphical FTP client that requires Java 1.4. Go to http://www.myjavaworld.com/.

FTP Server version 1.23 has been released as of 08/13/2004. Compared to the standard FTPD that comes with OS/2, this one has better security controls, together with extra features such as symbolic links. Go to http://eepjm.newcastle.edu.au/os2/FtpServer.html.

NDPISO version 2.0 has been released as of 08/29/2004. This is a plugin for NetDrive, allowing you to mount ISO (CD-ROM) images. Use search key ndpiso on Hobbes.

Rich Walsh, the author of DragText, has released Remote Workplace Server version 0.50 as of 08/27/2004. This enables a program to invoke any class or object method or any SOM function in the WPS process without the use of SOM or DSOM. Data that is accessible or meaningful only in the WPS process (e.g. a buffer or object pointer) can be copied or converted to make it available to the calling process. RWS is an open- source project license under the generous terms of the Mozilla Public License. It includes server & client DLL's, complete source code, extensive documentation, and 2 demo programs. Go to http://e-vertise.com/rws/rws050.zip, or use search key rws on Hobbes.

Rich Walsh has also released Iconomize version 0.50 as of 08/27/2004. This is an INI maintenance tool that lets you eliminate duplicate icon data in OS2.INI. Iconomize was created to demonstrate the features of Remote Workplace Server (see previous item). Go to http://e-vertise.com/rws/iconomize050.zip, or use search key iconomize on Hobbes.

MMPORT version 1.0 has been released as of 08/27/2004. This is a generic way of uploading / downloading (such as MP3 files) to portable devices that use proprietary protocols. Currently supported is the USB Casio WMP-1 watch. Go to http://en.ecomstation.ru/personal/kiewitzsoft/app-mmport.php, or use search key mmport on Hobbes.

ZOC version 4.15 has been released as of 08/25/2004. It is an award- winning telnet, secure shell (SSH), rlogin, modem and ISDN communications program. According to Steve Wendt, the OS/2 version will be discontinued for 5.x, which is currently in beta for Windows. Go to http://www.emtec.com/zoc/.

DVDDAO version 0.0.8 has been released as of 08/31/2004. 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.

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.