Many of the applications from the Unix world have been ported to OS/2. This gives OS/2 users the ability to use many of the traditional Unix applications along side those of OS/2, DOS and Windows (3.1 anyway).
Perhaps this list will give others some useful ideas. I've also included some tips on usage, where applicable.
Save Trees! Use this program to view your output in the same form as the printed page. Rework your document as needed, review with Ghostview/Ghostscript. Repeat as needed and print out only when "perfect".
One handy feature for me, is to take one page postscript plots that I generate with a program that I wrote and use GV/GS to first convert to encapsulated postscript (.eps) format and then add a TIFF view (epsi format). Importing this figure into a word or wordperfect diagram will give a TIFF view of the final postscript figure.
I write my work memos in Latex, convert them to .PDF using Ghostscript and distribute them electronically either by mail or by putting them up on my home page at work. This avoids the pain and inefficiency of using a cumbersome word processor. Currently, you must use package times to get good .PDF (i.e. font is rendered, not bit-mapped and the .pdf file is smaller than the source .ps file).
The latest version is Ghostscript 6.1 and Ghostview 2.9. Get them from Ghostscript/Ghostview
I have found a need to use some additional Latex packages (e.g. graphicx, times, fancyhdr, multicol, tabularx, longtable and changebar). These are easily found using CTAN Search.
If the file does not have embedded graphics, I usually use DVIPM to view the output. If it does have graphics, I usually use Ghostview/Ghostscript. In either case, I look at the output in one window and edit the .tex file with Epsilon in side-by-side windows. I call this nearly WSIWG and find it quite fast. Note that after making a new .ps file with Emtex, a left click in the ghostview window will refresh the display to the latest version on the same page. For me, its much faster than fussing with things like marking titles in Word/WordPerfect for table of contents, etc. Generating table of contents, list of figures and list of tables is an absolute snap in Latex.
Using the package graphicx, I have no problem inserting .ps or .eps floating figures using the following shell script (filling out the data in the {} brackets):
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\centering
%bb=llx lly urx uly, angle=
, width=, scale=, clip=, draft=
\includegraphics[width=3in]{}
\caption{}\label{}
\end{figure}
I insert floating tables using the following shell script:
\begin{table}[htbp]
\centering
\begin{tabular}{} \hline % <==
enter |r|c|l|p{2in}| etc
% <== enter \\ \hline as needed
\end{tabular}
\vspace{0.5ex}
\caption{}\label{}
% ,== enter caption, label
\end{table}
I can't do a comparison with GNU EMACS other than to say that Epsilon will fit on a floppy and it has nice undo and redo (EMACS has undo but no redo). Also, it is a text-only application in OS/2, whereas EMACS has a PM version. This is no problem as it preserves the size of screen going in. My standard window size is 68 lines on a 19 or 21 inch screen. I find writing macros a breeze. You can map the macro to a key and save the state making that essentially a permanent part of the editor. It can be extended via the EEL c-like language, making it very customizable. It has a brief mode for those who were used to the brief editor. It handles color coding in c, c++, .tex and .htm files and has a nice .tex mode. You can run a process window and have allscreen output saved in a buffer. It remembers where you were in a file and returns to that spot when you re-invoke the editor.
PMMail is available on BMT Micro
I had been interested in looking at PMINEWS as I was a fan of PMMAIL, but they did not seem to have a public beta. Then I saw some review indicating that it needed some more work. So I never did try that program. And I have been happy with ProNews/2. And I have found the author to provide fast and responsive support to new suggestions.
Previously, I had been using YARN, which is a nice text-based news program. You retrieve the news and store all the articles on your PC and then read them from your hard drive. This is a nice solution if you are using telephone access because all the articles are local, they are instantly available. Of course you are trading off hard drive space for this convenience. You can set up a CRON type scheduling program to gather the news before you come home and then read it quickly. Of course, you store all the articles including the "noise". Now that I have cable service, the speed issue is no longer a consideration. So I now use ProNews/2.
I have several partitions of OS/2 installed and use zip to back them up as follows. Boot up on the X: partition. Delete swapper.dat on the Y: partition (no sense backing that up). Zip the Y: partition using:
zip -rS y_backup y:\*
If the Y: parition gets screwed up, then from the X: partition, format the Y: partition and then just run unzip y_backup to restore the partition. For Warp 4, the backed-up archive will be about 100 Mb.
GoServe passed the 10 minute test. I had an elemental web page going within 10 minutes.
There is a new freeware progam on Hobbes called srev12m.zip that provides extensions to GoServe.
Web/2 for OS/2. It is as easy as Goserve to set up and perhaps runs faster. It also provides more info with a log file on users.Put an icon of the OS/2 Window on the toolbar. Under Properties of the OS/2 window icon, in the parameters line enter:
/k mode 80,68 & white & yaos
which opens a window that is 68 lines long, has a white background and has Yaos invoked. My white background command file, white.cmd is
echo ^[[0;47;34;5m
cls
where ^[ is the escape character. Of course the ANSI.SYS driver must be installed in CONFIG.SYS. After opening a text window for the first time, hold down the shift key and maximize the window. Then hold down the shift key and move the window to a position you like. Subsequent text windows will then open maximized in that position with a white background and yaos invoked.
Hobbes.Download white.cmd from this site.
A typical backup session goes like this:
tape rewind
tape erasequick
to_tape c:/
to_tape d:/
etc...
where my to_tape.cmd file is
tar -c -pp -E -P --exclude SWAPPER.DAT --exclude 386spart.par -D index
%1
tape tell >> index 2>&1
where an index file is saved with all the data on the tape. I would restore the d: partition as follows:
tape rewind
tape file 1
d:
fromtape
where my restoral command file, fromtape.cmd is
tar -x -E -p -pp %1
list < long_file_name
Get list as list75h.zip on Hobbes.
Now that I have a cable connection at home, I hardly ever use kermit for modem communications, but it is the best implementation of Telnet around so that is what I use it for. It is nice to have a good scrollback capability and a logging capability if desired. Occassionally I'd do a kermit transfer from the telnet site rather than use ftp in a separate window.
While Acrossl is ok for doing puzzles on line, I prefer to do them on paper. I use the Acrossl to print each of the daily puzzles for one week as .eps files and then use the following .tex file and latex2e to print them two-up. The printed puzzles can be cut out and are just the right size for one of those Crossword Commuter pocket folders.
\documentclass[11pt]{article} % Specifies the document style.
\oddsidemargin= -1in
\evensidemargin= -1in
\textwidth= 8in
\topmargin= -2.2in
\textheight= 12in
\pagestyle {empty}
\begin{document}
\includegraphics[width=5.65in, angle=90]{tue.eps}
\includegraphics[width=5.65in, angle=90]{mon.eps}
\includegraphics[width=5.65in, angle=90]{thur.eps}
\includegraphics[width=5.65in, angle=90]{wed.eps}
\includegraphics[width=5.65in, angle=90]{sat.eps}
\includegraphics[width=5.65in, angle=90]{fri.eps}
\end{document} % end of document text
If all you need to do is TELNET from a client computer on your local LAN to a remote host, you don't need IGATE. Just run TELNETD in the server OS/2 machine, but make sure to set a password in the security page of you TCPIP configuration program.
Os2dasd.dmd, written by Sam Detweiler of IBM, used with the /of switch in config.sys, allows the MO drive to be used with HFPS and long names. You have to run fdisk to partition the MO, then after rebooting, the partition can be formatted HPFS. Use a logical partition.
As of Fixpack 6 for Warp 4, the version of OS2DASD.DMD that support HPFS on MO drives is now a default part of OS/2.
N512dasd.flt is beta software by Jim Saxon of IBM is a driver companion to os2dasd.dmd that allows access to MO media with 1024 or 2048 byte sectored media. With it you can access 640 Mb 2048 byte/sector media and without, you can use only 540 Mb 512 byte/sector media. Remember that with HPFS you get 512 bytes/cluster and that is much more efficient that FAT, which I think hass 32 kbytes /cluster. Note, that when changing media type from 512 byte/sector to 2048 byte/sector, you will typically have to try twice to access the media, but it always works on the second try. Config.sys contains the following lines for the MO drive(s):
device=n512dasd.flt /v
device=os2dasd.dmd /of
I now have a Fujitsu 1.3 Gb MO drive (model 3130). Other users have reported success with the above drivers for the 1.3 Gb MO drive. Unfortunately, in my system the above drivers do not handle this drive for 640 Mb or 1.3 Gb media, so I must use FAT in superfloppy format on this drive, while still using n512dasd.flt with my 640 mb MO. This is done using the following lines in my config.sys:
DEVICE=E:\OS2\BOOT\OS2CDROM.DMD /Q
device=e:\os2\boot\modisk.sys /I0:6[1]
basedev=n512dasd.flt /v /!6
BASEDEV=OS2DASD.DMD /of
...
BASEDEV=OS2ASPI.DMD /ALL
The fujitsu driver, modisk.sys, must follow the cdrom driver otherwise the cdrom letter is used and the cdrom driver is not loaded. The modisk.sys parameter /IO:6[1] means that the driver applies only to SCSI device #6, which is my 1.3 gb MO. The n512dasd.flt parameter /!6 means that n512dasd.flt does not apply to SCSI device #6. The os2aspi /all parameter is needed to allow both drivers to load. With this approach I have HPFS on my 640 mb MO and FAT on my 1.3 gb MO.
N512dasd.zip (version 001) is available from
Hobbes. OS2DASD.DMD is included with the more recent fixpaks. In is no longer necessay to get os2dasd.dmd via newdasd.exe. For more information on removable media, see Leon Grossman's FAQ .I have used VDISK.SYS for the ramdisk. You must pick the size ahead of time and the structure is FAT. Ramfs resizes itself to match the need and it handles long file names. These are both important advantages for me. The only nit I have is that the tranfer of a large file to the ramdisk is a little slow when it is allocating a lot of new memory. My config.sys contains these lines to run the HPFS ramdisk, where u: is the drive letter assigned to my ramdisk and d:/u2 is the directory where ramdisk.exe is stored:
ifs=f:\drivers\ramfs.ifs
run=d:\u2\ramdisk.exe u:
Get it from Rheooptik or from Hobbes.
Download CCP from this site.
One handy use of grep is for the "poor man's data base". For example, create a phone number file with a one-line for each name and phone number in a file called phonelis. Type:
dial sam
to get all "sam" the entries in your phone file, where dial.cmd is
grep -i %1 d:\data\phonelis
I find this a lot faster than using an application for this function.
Pascal - Free Pascal from Free Pascal.
Java - Java 1.18 or IBM Visual Age Java
C compiler - EMX from Hobbes.
Help the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI)! This OS/2
version of the SETI home software runs nicely in the background and I hardly
notice that it is there. Get it from the OS/2
SETI Home Page
Quicken 98 - The best financial tracking program I have found. Intuit seems to have given up on supporting windows 3.1 so Quicken 99 and (I suppose) later versions will not run under OS/2.
Turbo Tax - The best tax program around - but support for windows 3.1 running under WINOS2 ended in tax year 1998. I now use TaxCut, which I did get to work under OS/2 with some difficulty.
Visio 3.0 - A neatly done drawing program which allows one to do simple block diagrams just about as fast as you can sketch them by hand.
Word 6.0c - I hate it and nearly throw up every time I have to use it. It is cumbersome, unintuitive and buggy. Conversion of word97 files to word95 format works very poorly - large files will not convert even with 128 Mb of RAM in my computer. Of course, this all may be by design to force users to upgrade to the latest MS stuff. Printing out one page in a 500 page document takes at least 10 minutes on my 166 MHz machine at work - it repaginates about four times and then it often prints out the wrong page! Sometimes specifying both page number and section number will get around this. Upgrading my compter at work to 450 MHz and at home to 750 MHz has helped a lot.
I have upgraded to SmartSuite 1.5.1 with the hope that the Word97 filters
would be OK - so that I could convert once and not look back. Unfortunately, I have to deal with Word files at work where it is now the "standard" - a mistaken decision that has a high cost in man hours. The Word97 filters are not too back, but quite often figures in Word97 do not convert. So I now use Word 6 whenever it will convert a given Word97 program, otherwise I use WordPro from smartsuite.
This is my own reverse-polish text-mode calculator that includes features including math functions, macro programmability, selectable log to disk file, trace of calculations on the screen and so on. I use it quite often. I find it faster that using a PM style calculator and the on-screen trace is handy to check your computations.
Download RPCalc119.zip from this site or get it from Hobbes.