Updates from last month's column:

The WarpZilla team has released Firefox (formerly known as Firebird) version 1.0 as of 11/09/2004. 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/1.0/contrib/. The file name is firefox-os2-1.0.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 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.
4. Tony'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 as of 02/13/2004. Use search keys firefoxicon or os2firefox on Hobbes.

DFSee, which was presented by Tony Butka at the March 2004 SCOUG general meeting, is now at version 6.16 as of 11/24/2004. 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. NOTE: DFSee is now shareware. Registration is at Mensys (http://shop.mensys.nl/catalogue/mns_DFSee.html).

WarpVision, which was demoed by Jordan Fox at the June 2004 SCOUG general meeting, was updated as of 11/05/2004. 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 2 below). Go to ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/wvgui/wvgui_latest.zip. Info is at http://os2.kiev.ua/en/wv.php.

NOTES:
1. This may be an update to the base version; the base version is at ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/wvgui/wvgui20040820.zip.
2. There are downloadable "skins" available at http://os2.kiev.ua/en/wv.skins.php.
3. There is also a command-line (as of 05/04/2003) version of WarpVision available at ftp://ftp.os2.kiev.ua/wvcli/.
4. According to the authors, you must delete VIDEO2.INI prior to updating from a previous version of WarpVision.
5. 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.
6. The WarpVision team accepts donations at https://secure.bmtmicro.com/ECommerce-Offsite/11980000.html, or at http://shop.mensys.nl/uk/warpvision.

ChatZilla version 0.9.66e has been released as of 11/12/2004. This is a Mozilla extension to enable IRC (Internet Relay Chat) from Mozilla. Go to http://www.hacksrus.com/~ginda/chatzilla/; more info is at http://extensionroom.mozdev.org/more-info/chatzilla. NOTE: A write-up on ChatZilla is in the Sept. 2004 VOICE newsletter at http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL0904H/vnewsf2.htm.

FlashBlock version 1.0 RC3 (release candidate 3) has been released as of 11/09/2004. This is a Mozilla extension that replaces Flash animations with a "click to play" placeholder. Go to http://flashblock.mozdev.org/. NOTE: There is also a version 1.1 beta with whitelist support; however the author notes that this beta (as the designation implies) may have bugs.

bootAble version 3.5 has been released as of 11/02/2004. 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/.

JFTP version 3.6 has been released as of 11/09/2004. This is a graphical FTP client that requires Java 1.4. Go to http://www.jmethods.com/products/jftp/.

CBIRC version 1.07 has been released as of 11/07/2004. This is a Java IRC client with features that include color, web links, DCC, and more. Go to http://www.bratschi.net/cbirc/.

UpdCD version 2.47 has been updated as of 11/06/2004. 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 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.

JAlbum version 5.1 has been released as of 11/06/2004. This is a web photo album generator that runs on Java. Go to http://jalbum.net/.

UniAudio Mixer has been updated as of 11/25/2004. This is a PM sound mixer for the UniAudio drivers. Use.search key umixpm on Hobbes.

Mr. Message for OS/2 was updated as of 11/18/2004. 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_11182004.zip.

NOTES:
1. A WarpIn installation package is also available at http://mamodeo.dyndns.org/MrMessage_11182004.wpi.
2. Source is also available at http://mamodeo.dyndns.org/MrMessage_srcbin_11182004.zip.

A new release of Odin has been made available as of 12/04/2004. Go to ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/odin/Daily/odin32bin-20041204-release-xp.zip. More info is at http://odin.netlabs.org/, and the changelog is at ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/odin/Daily/ChangeLog.

The VIA Technologies KT133/266/333/880 CPU cooling and power management tools have been updated as of 12/02/2004. Use search key 823xcool on Hobbes.

IBM has updated the BIOS for the ThinkPad T4x series as of 11/15/2004. Go to http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/license.do?filename=mobiles/1ruj27ud.exe.

This month's new listings - Drivers:

Daniela Engert has refreshed as of 11/14/2004 a patch to OS2LDR that fixes the OS/2 > 64MB memory detection defect found with some recent BIOSes. This release is from June 2003, but wasn't uploaded to Hobbes until now. Use search key patchldr.

IBM has updated as of 11/15/2004 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 the eComStation website (http://www.ecomstation.com/) (after signing-in).

IBM has updated the Embedded Controller Program (H8 controller firmware) for the ThinkPad T4x series as of 11/15/2004. Go to http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/license.do?filename=mobiles/1rhj10ud.exe.

Amouse version 2.7 beta has been released as of 11/20/2004. 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 more than 5 mouse buttons. Go to http://www.nbsoftware.de/sw_ms_enb.htm.

A driver for the RTL8029 PCI Ethernet adapter (version 2.2pl2) has been released as of 12/03/2004. It has some experimental patches to deal with IRQ sharing. Use search key rtl8029 on Hobbes.

This month's new listings - Applications:

The WarpZilla team has released Mozilla 1.8a5 as of 11/24/2004. 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/mozilla1.8a5/contrib/ There is an installer version (mozilla-os2-1.8a5-installer.exe), and a zip file version (mozilla-os2-1.8a5.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. Another site that has documentation of plugin support on OS/2 is at http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/OS2.html.
3. If you install the zip file version, you need to unzip it yourself into a directory and create or update a program object accordingly.
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 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 (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 1.4.2 or older (which is compiled with the VACPP compiler), and version 1.5 or greater (which is compiled with the GCC compiler): Make sure MOZRMI36.DLL is NOT in your LIBPATH and only exists where the version 1.4.x 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.

The WarpZilla team has also released Thunderbird version 0.9 as of 11/15/2004. 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 and newsgroup side). Go to ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/releases/0.9/contrib/. The file name is thunderbird-0.9-os2.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 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.
4. Tony's notes on installing and running Thunderbird are at http://www.scoug.com/os24u/2003/scoug310.mozilla.html.

InnoTek has released version 1.10 of the Java Plug-In support for Mozilla and IBM Web Browser for OS/2 as of 11/04/2004. This is necessary in order to use Java and the scripting features of Flash. Go to http://download.innotek.de/javaos2/mozilla/ipluginw20041104.zip.

NOTES:
1. More info is at http://www.innotek.de/products/javaos2/mozilla/.
2. If you want Mozilla to install it automatically, go to http://download.innotek.de/javaos2/mozilla/ipluginw20041104.xpi.
3. If you use the zip file version, you must do two things:
   • You may need to delete COMPREG.DAT and allow it to be rebuilt when you restart Mozilla or IBM Web Browser
   • The IPLUGINW.DLL should be copied to the \COMPONENTS sub-directory.

InnoTek has also released as of 11/15/2004 OpenOffice.org 1.1.3 beta. This was demoed in the 1st quarter of 2004 by Jerry Rash at a SCOUG general meeting, and was the subject of some recent Ink columns by Tony Butka. Go to http://www.innotek.de/products/openofficeos2/beta/.

NOTES:
1. You need the InnoTek Font Engine (http://www.innotek.de/products/ft2lib) and the InnoTek Runtime (http://www.innotek.de/products/innowin) installed first.
2. OpenOffice.org for OS/2 Java support also requires the InnoTek OS/2 Kit for Java at http://www.innotek.de/products/javaos2.
3. The beta is a large download of approximately 65MB.

FireFTP version 0.85.1 has been released as of 11/05/2004. This is a cross-platform FTP client that works under the FireFox browser. Go to http://fireftp.mozdev.org/.

Search Plugins for FireFox version 0.3 has been released. It contains plugins to search Google, Hobbes, Leo, etc. For those that know German, it can do Google searches for German sites only. Go to http://www.subsys.de/misc/FireFoxSearchPlg03.zip.

Linky version 2.2.0 has been released as of 11/15/2004. This is an add-on to Mozilla that adds extra link-related items to the menu, allowing you to perform tasks such as opening all links on a page in new tabs, or copying selected links to the clipboard. Go to http://gemal.dk/mozilla/linky.html.

PMM2MOZ has been released as of 11/26/2004. This is a program to convert PMMail *.MSG files to Mozilla Mail or Thunderbird format. Use search key pmm2moz on Hobbes. NOTE: You must be in Classic REXX mode to run this.

There is a conversion utility to convert PMMail 2.x address books and messages into MR/2 ICE format (as of 10/21/2004). Go to http://www.mr2ice.com/#utilities.

jSyncManager version 3.2 alpha 03 (API and Core Application Set) has been released as of 11/12/2004. This is a Java tool for synchronizing with Palm handhelds. Go to http://jsyncmanager.sourceforge.net/.

FotoGet/2 version 1.0.5 has been released as of 11/06/2004. This is a utility to ease the transfer of pictures from a digital camera. Use search key fotoget on Hobbes.

The RAR archiver has been updated to version 3.41. 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/.

LDBkup version 1.0.2 has been released. Large Drive Backup will back up an 80GB volume as easily as a 1GB partition. This does backups to disk (not tape), supports full and differential backups, automatically handling archive bits and utilizes RAR (see previous item) to do the actual backup. Go to http://www.warpdoctor.org/walter.metcalf/.

Album Grabber version 0.80 has been released. This is basically a bot that grabs album covers off of www.allmusic.com, which requires Java 1.3. Go to http://bluedragontavern.dyndns.org/albumgrabber/.

DVDDAO version 0.0.9 has been released as of 11/16/2004. 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.

zmuzic has been released as of 11/20/2004. It is a PM front-end for the z! MP3 player. Use search key zmuzic on Hobbes.

IBM has released FixPak 13 for DB2 version 7 as of 10/15/2004. Go to ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com/ps/products/db2/fixes/english-us/db2os2v7/. NOTE: If you have DB2 version 6.1, the latest FixPak is #11, located at ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/ps/products/db2/fixes/english-us/db2os2v61/.

Rich Walsh, the author of DragText, has released Remote Workplace Server version 0.60 as of 11/23/2004. 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 under the generous terms of the Mozilla Public License. It includes server & client DLL's, complete source code, extensive documentation, and 2 demo programs. Use search key rws on Hobbes.

Rich Walsh has also released Iconomize version 0.60 as of 11/23/2004. 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). Use search key iconomize on Hobbes.

Finally, Rich Walsh has also released FPos version 0.60 as of 11/23/2004. This is an INI maintenance tool that lets you delete unwanted folder position entries. This is a program that demonstrates the featues of Remote Workplace Server (see above). Use search key fpos on Hobbes.

Ghostscript version 8.15 has been released as of 09/26/2004. It is a freeware PostScript interpreter/converter for generating Adobe Acrobat (PDF) documents. Go to ftp://mirror.cs.wisc.edu/pub/mirrors/ghost/GPL/gs815/gs815os2.zip; more info is at http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/.

GSView version 4.61 beta has been released as of 11/27/2004. It is a graphical document viewer that uses Ghostscript (see previous item) as its' display engine. Go to ftp://mirror.cs.wisc.edu/pub/mirrors/ghost/ghostgum/beta/; more info is at http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/. NOTE: the EMX runtime is required; if you don't have it already installed (the default with eComStation 1.1 & 1.2), use search key emxrt on Hobbes. For help with installation, see the June 2002 Mr. Know-It-All (http://www.scoug.com/os24u/2002/scoug206.mrkia.html).

ePDF version 2.0 beta 18 has been released. This is a PM tool for PostScript to PDF conversion, which uses Ghostscript (see above) as the back-end. Go to http://www.subsys.de/ePDF/.

MySQL version 4.0.18 build 5 has been released as of 11/27/2004. The MySQL database server is the world's most widely used open-source database. The OS/2 port now features named pipes, data replication, databases > 2GB, and more. Go to http://www.os2power.com/yuri/mysql2/.

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.