


High Performance Facts Service - April, 1996







High Performance Facts 
Service,
the Toronto OS/2 Users Group Newsletter!

volume 1, issue 12





Bringing Toronto's OS/2 community timely information, 
quality speakers and a helpful forum for their questions.



















Return to TO/2 Homepage



HAPPY 
BIRTHDAY TO/2!





 



Special to the Anniversary 
Edition: The Executive Summarize the First Year of 
The Toronto OS/2 Users Group!



News from the User Group



From the Warped Mind of the Editor
All about the changes to the Newsletter.

User Group News
News about the UG and what we have planned.

SIG News
Now we have two seperate SIGs - Programmer's and Communications!






News of the Month


Software Review
This Month: Lynelle Hamilton reviews Describe

News from the 'Net
Highlights of the news to cross the Editor's desk

Shareware Disk of the Month
What's on Noah Sumner's Disk O' The Month (available at the meeting)

Tips and Tricks
This month:  REXX tips by Terry Hamilton
























Martin Moran

Editor, Toronto OS/2 User's Group Newsletter







HPFS ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL - Executive Recap  - 4/96











The Executive Round Out The Year.



Terry Hamilton
President and  Supreme Dictator for Life

Kevin Linfield
Vice President, Cheif of Publicity

Paul Leduc
Secretary - the man behind the Minutes

Martin Moran
Newsletter Editor and Disturber-At-Large

Kevin Quinn
Membership Co-Ordinator and Demon with the Graphs!








Return to Table of 
Contents



Terry Hamilton, President


Well here we have it.  This is one reason why this User Group has survived.
The executive have created a GREAT relationship and are always after each 
other to do a better job.


The executive do their best to ensure that everyone contributes to the group. We are, after all, a USER'S GROUP.  At the very first meeting
of our Executive we decided that if this group is to survive it must
do so from the contributions of members and the executive.  Over the
past year we can all see the contributions made.


The numerous people that have contributed to the newsletter should
not be forgotten.  People have provided reviews and articles, those
that have provided suggestions to the editor for layout or reviews or
contributions.  Members that provide the monthly Hints and Tips
are the most read contributors.  They have all provided value
to our User Group.


Of course, there are the members that have provided the various product
demos at our meetings.  People who have gone out of there way to research
and demonstrate products give us all a valuable contribution.  Anyone
who knows the stress of public speaking should say thanks to these members.


And on top of the members we have the various vendors and retailers
that have donated prizes for our monthly giveaway.  The vendors who
have given discounts and demonstrated at our meetings should be thanked.
Without vendors showing their products at our meetings we would have 
much less attendance at our meetings.


The executive too are each dedicated to our success.  We have made what
is a time consuming and tough job, fun and entertaining for us.
The executive that have volunteered to support and coordinate this
group have all spend large portions of their personal time contributing
to the success of this group.  You can only guess at the hours of email
that goes into organizing each meeting.  


Overall, the success of this group is something that we all have 
contributed to and will to continue to in the future.


In the coming year we have more vendors planning to attend our meetings, 
new SIGs forming, new members will be attending, bigger and better
special events.  And of course the continuing contributions from 
members like yourself.


To the vendors, members and executive, thanks for all you have provided
to this group!


TERRY HAMILTON                     
President
tch@io.org                                                    







Kevin Linfield, Vice-President

As you all know, Kevin is a freelance writer on things OS/2, and 
he has given permission to reprint one of his articles for his 
summary.

Linfield's Line
By Kevin Linfield Nov. 9, 1995

OS/2 Users vs IBM


As time goes on, the more I realize that it is the users, not IBM who
promote OS/2.  We organize groups such as Team OS/2 and city "User
Groups" to promote it to co-workers, friends, and even the general
public.  You can see volunteers at computer events such as COMDEX and
ComputerFest, giving up their time to help promote their operating
system, and in the plethora of newsgroups, defending OS/2's honour and
assisting others with answers and helpful tips.


How many of us started using OS/2 because of an IBM advertisement? 
Although there must be at least one person in the world, I'd bet that
the total number would be very small.  I'll use my own story as an
example.  I bought a new 486DX33 with 4 MB of RAM in February 1992,
and on its 120 MB hard drive was good old DOS 5.0.  Believe it or not,

 I actually bought Windows 3.0 based on the hype and hoopla.  I soon
became frustrated with Windows because a) I didn't have any Windows
applications and b) it wouldn't run my DOS programs in a window.  I
figured that if I was going to task switch DOS programs, I might as
well use DOSShell (a utility which came with DOS 5.0).  Later that
year, a friend at University told me about OS/2 2.0.  To be brutally
honest, I had never thought of OS/2 before this point (i.e. what
advertising?).  He gave me some propaganda and he was able to convince
me to upgrade to 8 MB of RAM and buy OS/2 (on 5.25" disks no less). 
Since then, I have become somewhat of a fanatic and have tried to
learn all I can about OS/2.  I run it at home, on my notebook, at
work, and even on my father's 386 with 4 MB of RAM (of course, with
Program Commander/2 as a replacement shell.)  I recommended it to my
friends, participate in local computer events, and even helped
organize the Toronto OS/2 User Group.


And talk about advertising?  Lately, all I've seen the "nun"
commercial, and the Warp Connect machine in the jungle.  OS/2 2.1 ads
involved a pool table.  Boring.  Even magazine ads are just plain and
dull.  I strongly doubt that this kind of advertising is effective. 
No catchy jingle.  No famous spokesperson.  Not even its own
infomercial.  Even in retail stores OS/2 is not well known to the
staff.  With few pre-loads, there are few applications available on
the shelves.  And those that are on the shelf do not represent the
wealth of OS/2 software available.  One of the cries emanating from
the vocal minority is that OS/2 has no applications.  Have they ever
checked out Indelible Blue, Below Zero, or House of Technology?  These
OS/2 stores sell more applications than you can shake a stick at.


How did you get into OS/2?  Did you install it yourself?  I know of
only a handful of people who successfully performed their own first
install.  Even I had my friend come over and assist me, and in turn I
have assisted close to 100 people with their machines.  So if it is so
hard to install, and IBM doesn't promote it, why are OS/2 users go
gung ho about their systems?  I suspect that we feel that we've
finally found an operating system that takes full advantage of our
hardware.  No more 640kB memory hassles.  No more FAT file systems. 
The limitations of DOS are gone, but we still have the capability of
running DOS and Windows software if the need arises.


The rumours of OS/2 dying have been around since OS/2 was invented. 
But no matter what IBM does, OS/2 will never die as long as there are
enthusiastic users who promote the system and provide support, whether
in person, via the Internet, or even at computer shows and events.


KEVIN LINFIELD is a Toronto based consultant and a freelance writer. 
He can be reached via E-mail at linfield@torfree.net.  He is also the 
Vice-President of the OS/2 User's Group.










Paul Leduc, Secretary


I was very fortunate to be involved in the first year of the TO/2.  
As secretary, I learned a lot about HTML, having used it to publish 
the meeting minutes.  As a member, I met a number of new people with 
similar interests.  Overall, I found our meetings to be very 
informative and appropriate.  It was a great forum for getting up to 
date information about OS/2 and OS/2 products.  I hope the group will 
continue to thrive with renewed interest from all members.  
Congratulations on make it through the first and toughest year!


PAUL LEDUC
Secretary
leduc@user.rose.com





Martin Moran


I was fortunate enough to receive the initial note that Terry sent out last
year about the first Toronto OS/2 User's Group meeting, to take place in 
April.  I had known Terry (through e-mail, mostly) for about 5 months, as 
he had been a contact at IBM for Teamers.  I had thought of trying to start
a group myself, but could not even think about how to start.  I knew when I
got Terry's note that I would try and help out with the group any way I 
could.  When I got there, I volunteered for the job of Newsletter Editor, 
and the durn thing stuck. (g)


In the past year, I've faced criticism and praise from both the Executive 
and the Users, missed deadlines (I make 'em, I can break 'em! (g)), and the
difficulty of getting content for the Newsletter.  I wouldn't give up the 
job if you paid me.  I like what is done here, I'm proud of the product 
that we put out both here in HPFS and in our meetings, and I'm glad the 
users themselves enjoy what we have to offer.  You have my guarantee that 
the Executive are continuing to provide the best they possibly can.


I didn't know what I was getting into at the time, but I'm now glad that I 
did get involved.  I got to meet a great group of people in the users, and 
a dedicated and driven bunch of Executives that want nothing more than to
make this the best User Group on the continent.  I think we're well on the
way to doing that, and we will continue to grow and change the group to
meet this goal.


In all, I think the User Group has had a banner year in the first year, and
we'd like to thank the users for making it that way.  I'd personally like 
to thank (again) all those who have contributed in the newsletter in the 
last year, with tips, columns and comments.  Thanks for coming to our Beta 
Test! (g)


MARTIN MORAN
Newsletter Editor
snooker@interlog.com





Kevin Quinn, Membership Co-Ordinator


WOW!  Can you believe that it's already been a year since we started this
thing?  Don't get me wrong though. I've learned alot, had a lot of fun, met a
lot of good people. Well, I guess what I'm trying to say is that the hard work
HAS been worth it. Hey, at least it gets me out of the house once a month. :><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><CENTER><A HREF = "#4"><IMG SRC=imgs/a_up.gif></CENTER></P><P><HR><P><P><CENTER><A HREF=phpl.cgi?news/0496news.html><IMG 
SRC=imgs/button_prev.gif></A></P></CENTER><P><P><P><CENTER><A HREF = phpl.cgi?news/0496toc.html><IMG 
SRC=imgs/button_home.gif></A><P></CENTER></P><P><P><CENTER><IMG SRC='imgs/clrline.gif'></CENTER><P><ADDRESS><P><HR><P><A HREF='mailto:snooker@interlog.com'></A><P><BR><P></ADDRESS><P></BODY><P></HTML><P></HTML><HTML><HEAD><P><TITLE></TITLE><P><BODY BACKGROUND=imgs/to2nlbg3.gif><P><CENTER><IMG SRC="imgs/clrline.gif"></CENTER><P></HEAD><P><P><BODY><P><P><CENTER><H1><A NAME="0"></A></H1></CENTER><P><DL><P><DT><IMG SRC="imgs/grnball.gif"><A HREF="#1"></A><DD><DT><IMG SRC="imgs/grnball.gif"><A HREF="#2"></A><DD><DT><IMG SRC="imgs/grnball.gif"><A HREF="#3"></A><DD><P></DL><P><P><CENTER><IMG SRC='imgs/clrline.gif'></CENTER><P><HR><P><CENTER><A HREF=phpl.cgi?news/0496toc.html><H4></H4></A></CENTER><P><HR><P><H3><A NAME="1"></A></H3><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><CENTER><A HREF = "#0"><IMG SRC=imgs/a_up.gif></A><A HREF =

"#2"><IMG SRC=imgs/a_down.gif></A></CENTER></P><P><HR><P><P><H3><A NAME="2"></A></H3><P><P><P><P><CENTER><A HREF = "#1"><IMG SRC=imgs/a_up.gif></A><A HREF =

"#3"><IMG SRC=imgs/a_down.gif></A></CENTER></P><P><HR><P><P><H3><A NAME="3"></A></H3><P><P><P><B></B><B></B><P><P><CENTER><A HREF = "#2"><IMG SRC=imgs/a_up.gif></CENTER></P><P><HR><P><P><CENTER><A HREF=phpl.cgi?news/0496news.html><IMG 
SRC=imgs/button_next.gif></A></P></CENTER><P><P><P><CENTER><A HREF = phpl.cgi?news/0496toc.html><IMG 
SRC=imgs/button_home.gif></A><P></CENTER></P><P><P><CENTER><IMG SRC='imgs/clrline.gif'></CENTER><P><ADDRESS><P><HR><P><A HREF='mailto:snooker@interlog.com'></A><P><BR><P></ADDRESS><P></BODY><P></HTML><P><HTML><HEAD><P><TITLE></TITLE><P><BODY BACKGROUND=imgs/to2nlbg3.gif><P><CENTER><IMG SRC="imgs/clrline.gif"></CENTER><P></HEAD><P><P><BODY><P><P><CENTER><H1><A NAME="0"></A></H1></CENTER><P><DL><P><DT><IMG SRC="imgs/grnball.gif"><A HREF="#1"><B></B></A><DD><P><DT><IMG SRC="imgs/grnball.gif"><A HREF="#2"><B></B></A><DD><P><DT><IMG SRC="imgs/grnball.gif"><A HREF="#3"><b></b></A><DD><P><DT><IMG SRC="imgs/grnball.gif"><A HREF="#4"><b></b></A><DD><P></DL><P><P><CENTER><IMG SRC='imgs/clrline.gif'></CENTER><P><HR><P><CENTER><A HREF=phpl.cgi?news/0496toc.html><H4></H4></A></CENTER><P><HR><P><H3><A NAME="1"></A></H3><P><H2></H2><P><CITE></CITE><P><P><CENTER><H3></H3></CENTER><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><H4></H4><P><P><P><P><H4></H4><P><P><H4></H4><P><P><P><P><H4></H4><P><P><P><P><P><P><H4></H4><P><P><H4></H4><P><P><P><P><H4></H4><P><A 
HREF=http://www.describe.com/wp/home.html></a><P><P><A HREF=mailto:lynelleh@inforamp.net></A><P><P><CENTER><A HREF = "#0"><IMG SRC=imgs/a_up.gif></A><A HREF =
"#2"><IMG SRC=imgs/a_down.gif></A></CENTER></P><P><HR><P><P><H3><A NAME="2"></A></H3><P><P><P><A HREF=http://www.andrews.edu/~boyko/email.html></A><P><P><UL><LI><LI><LI><LI><LI></UL><P><HR><P><P><P><UL><LI><A HREF=mailto:obie@shadow.net></A><LI><LI><I></I></UL><HR><P><P><B></B><P><HR><P><P><HR><P><P><HR><P><P><HR><P><P><HR><P><P><HR><P><P><P><CENTER><A HREF = "#1"><IMG SRC=imgs/a_up.gif></A><A HREF =

"#3"><IMG SRC=imgs/a_down.gif></A></CENTER></P><P><HR><P><P><H3><A NAME="3"></A></H3><P><P><CENTER><H4></H4></CENTER><B></B><P><P><CENTER><A HREF = "#2"><IMG SRC=imgs/a_up.gif><A HREF =
"#4"><IMG SRC=imgs/a_down.gif></A></CENTER></P><P><HR><P><H3><A NAME="4"></A></H3><P><P><P><A HREF=phpl.cgi?news/0496rexx.html></A><P><CITE></CITE><P><P><CENTER><A HREF = "#3"><IMG SRC=imgs/a_up.gif></CENTER></P><P><P><CENTER><A HREF=phpl.cgi?news/0496admin.html><IMG 
SRC=imgs/button_prev.gif></A></P></CENTER><P><HR><P><P><CENTER><A HREF = phpl.cgi?news/0496toc.html><IMG 
SRC=imgs/button_home.gif></A><P></CENTER></P><P><P><CENTER><IMG SRC='imgs/clrline.gif'></CENTER><P><ADDRESS><P><HR><P><A HREF='mailto:snooker@interlog.com'></A><P><BR><P></ADDRESS><P></BODY><P></HTML><P><HTML><HEAD><TITLE></TITLE></HEAD><P><BODY><CODE><PRE><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><P><><P><P><P><P><P><P></PRE></CODE><P><CENTER><A HREF=phpl.cgi?news/0496news.html#4></A></CENTER><P></BODY></HTML><P>