Version 2.41 (13th Feb 1997)
If anyone is willing to host a mirror of the FAQ on a Website outside of Europe, please get in touch.
This document contains a list of questions and answers about that wholly remarkable organisation, Team OS/2. It is no longer maintained.
This document is based entirely on my personal opinions about Team OS/2, and any inaccuracies are therefore my fault. In no way does this document constitute the official opinion of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (who probably don't even know what OS/2 is), or IBM itself.
The document is provided AS IS, without warranty of any kind. The author is not liable for any loss or damage resulting from use of information contained herein, correct or otherwise.
All trademarks are copyright of their respective owners.
Copyright Christi Alice Scarborough 1994-1997 (except where otherwise stated). License is hereby granted to freely distribute this document in any form, provided no fee (other than a reasonable distribution charge, where applicable) is charged, and that this copyright notice remains intact. This document may not be reproduced in any way, either in full or in part, as part of a commercial venture (including but not limited to CD-ROM distribution and magazine articles) without my express written permission.
An explicit exception to the above license is hereby granted to the producers of the Walnut Creek OS/2 Shareware CD ROM, who may include this document on their distribution.
Team OS/2 is a highly informal organisation dedicated to telling the world
about the advantages of Operating System/2 (OS/2), an advanced operating
system for personal computers. Faced with a large amount of
ignorance and
misinformation about OS/2, Teamers respond by demonstrating the
operating system to others,
and educating them about its strengths and weaknesses. Teamers are all
volunteers with a genuine enthusiasm for OS/2 that translates into a
wish to spread that enthusiasm to others.
Question 1(a).2 - How did Team OS/2 originate?
Shortly before the release of version 2 of OS/2, an IBM employee called
Dave Whittle had an idea. He, like many others at that time, could see that
OS/2 was an excellent program, but like many others, he was frustrated by
the lack of attention that it was receiving in the computer press and
elsewhere. As a result, he decided to form a group of OS/2 enthusiasts who
would help each other to promote OS/2 at the grass roots level. This
organisation grew beyond his wildest dreams to encompass Teamers both inside
and outside of IBM. Currently, Team OS/2 has more than six thousand
members worldwide. Less than 5% of these are IBM employees.
Question 1(a).3 - What does Team OS/2 do?
Anything that promotes OS/2 to other people. Examples include, but are not limited to:
Not to mention anything else that springs to mind, often on the spur
of the moment. Above all, Teamers do what they do because it is
fun.
Question 1(a).4 - I'd like to do one of the things mentioned
above, but I'm a bit nervous about going it alone. Is there anyone I can
ask for help?
Yes. Many Teamers are willing to offer advice through electronic
conferences, and you may be able to find Teamers local to you this way. For
demos, you might like to get in touch with your local IBM office, if you
have one. If you
are setting up an OS/2 User Group, then IBM can also offer some help;
contact ibmpcug@vnet.ibm.com via
the Internet. In particular, the
Fidonet Team OS/2 echo has many contributors that also run user groups.
Question 1(a).5 - What is Team OS/2's position on Windows,
Windows 95, NT, and other competing software?
Well, Team OS/2 is an informal organisation, and as such has no
views on
anything. In my experience, and yours may differ, the majority of Teamers
feel that OS/2 is good enough that we can promote it on it's own merits,
rather than resort to rubbishing competing products, which can often give
a bad impression, alienating people who might otherwise enjoy using OS/2.
Question 1(a).6 - Are Team OS/2 membership and using or
supporting a different OS mutually exclusive activities?
Absolutely not. Being a fan of OS/2 does not mean that a Teamer has
to avoid all other OSes. There are now a wide range of other PC and non-PC
operating systems such as Linux, Windows NT, Windows 95, NextStep, and
System 7, and all of them have different strengths and weaknesses, so
it's possible to like more than one.
1(b) IBM and Team OS/2
Question 1(b).1 - What is IBM's relationship with Team
OS/2?
IBM has no control or authority over the activities of Team OS/2. It no longer provides formal support for Team OS/2 activities.
IBM's support for Team OS/2 was traditionally strongest within the USA,
but they
have liasons in sixteen other countries, although it is unclear whether
any of these are still operating. Their email addresses are
listed in section 1(b).3.
Question 1(b).2 - Do I have to work for IBM to be a Team
OS/2 member?
The answer to this question is a categorical NO. Although Team OS/2
contains many IBMers who are active participants, the vast majority are
users, programmers, students, and other enthusiasts from outside of IBM.
Question 1(b).3 - How do I contact IBM's Team OS/2
support?
IBM has now withdrawn support for Team OS/2, so they can no longer be contacted. Some of the international contacts below may still be able to help though.
Caveat: This information is very old, and I have no idea how accurate it is.
Argentina: Juan Sortheix - dszpholm@hp1.cbs.dk
Australia: Peter Kelley - yellek@vnet.ibm.com
Austria: Georg Hascheck - haschek@vnet.ibm.com
Ludwig Eder - ederl@vnet.ibm.com
Belgium: Frank Vandewiele - <address unknown>
Canada: Arylnn Poczynek - teamos2_cnd@vnet.ibm.com
Denmark: Carsten Joost - TEAMOS2_DK@vnet.ibm.com
Germany; Andreas Claus Kistner - KISTNER@FRANVM2.VNET.IBM.COM
Ireland: Scott Myles - teamos2.ireland@street.nemesis.co.uk
Japan: Kaoru Sudo - <address unknown>
Latvia: Harry Bush - Harry@castle.riga.lv, Fido 2:51/2
Netherlands: Jeroen van den Horn - HORNE@vnet.ibm.com
Portugal: Pedro Soares - <address unknown>
Singapore: Jason Ho Yong Sing - <address unknown>
South Africa: Faridah Hoosen - <address unknown>
Glenn Fermoyle - <address unknown>
Francois van der Merwe - <address unknown>
Spain: Xavier Caballe - xavier.caballa@abaforum.es
Sweden: Mats Pettersson - TEAMOS2_SV@vnet.ibm.com
Switzerland: Thomas Straumann -
Thomas.Straumann@p3.f315.n301.z2.fidonet.org
UK: Andrew Agerbak - TEAMUK@vnet.ibm.com
Joining Team OS/2 is very simple. There is no formal membership
application process. All that is necessary is to do something that
promotes OS/2 to others, no matter how large or small, and you are entitled
to call yourself a Team OS/2 member. Once you have done this, you may wish
to place the text "Team OS/2" in any electronic messages you send, and you
may wish to have your name placed on the register of Teamers kept by IBM,
but neither of these steps are essential to becoming a Team OS/2 member,
just a willingness to promote OS/2 to others.
Question 1(c).2 - How do I get my name placed on the
register of Teamers?
The Team OS/2 membership database has been undergoing a bit of a facelift recently. If you would like to join, then the easiest way is to use the World Web Web - point your browser at http://www.teamos2.org/jointeam. Regretably it is no longer possible to register other than over the Web.
Teamers frequent many electronic conferences, some of which are listed
below. If there is a conference that you know of that is not listed below,
please let me know.
2(a).1 - Fidonet
The Fidonet echo TEAMOS2 is on the echo backbone in Zones 1 and 2, and is also taken by sites in zones 3 and 6. It serves as a meeting place for Teamers worldwide to discuss issues relating to Team activities, as well as serving as a point of contact for many OS/2 user groups.
There are also several national Fidonet echoes in existence, for example
Germany and France both have national language Team OS/2 echoes.
2(a).2 - Internet / Usenet
The newsgroups comp.org.team-os2 (moderated) and alt.org.team-os2 are specifically devoted to Team OS/2, although many Teamers also follow the newsgroups in the comp.os.os2 hierarchy. Of particular interest to Teamers is the comp.os.os2.advocacy newsgroup, also frequented by several staunch NT supporters. some of the posts in this newsgroup are rather extreme in nature - you have been warned!
There are also a couple of OS/2 related mailing lists. To subscribe to one of these lists, send mail to the address specified with a blank subject line and the text
sub <list name> <your first name> <your surname>
in the message text, filling in your details as appropriate. Do not
include an explanation or signature, as the request will be processed
automatically.
In addition, there are several Team OS/2 related mailing lists running
off the Team OS/2 World Wide Web
server. Details of these can be found at http://www.teamos2.org/joinlist.
2(a).3 - Prodigy
Seek out the OS/2 club, which has both files for downloading and message
areas.
2(a).4 - CompuServe / CIX
'Go OS2USER'. Section 9 is dedicated to Team OS/2.
2(a).5 - GEnie
The OS/2 roundtable (page 1400) is the place to look here. Look out
for the
announcements of upcoming Realtime Conferences (RTCs) in the Upcoming
Bulletin Board conferences section.
2(a).6 - Delphi
The Teamers here are to be found hanging out on Custom Forum 41.
2(a).7 - America Online
Head for the Computing icon, OS/2 topic. AOL has regularly-scheduled OS/2 chats on Tuesdays at 11:30 p.m., Thursdays at 9 p.m., and Saturdays at 9:30 p.m. EST (Grenwich Mean Time minus 5 hours.)
Often it's nice to meet fellow Teamers in the flesh too. There are two
main places where there is a good chance of meeting Teamers face to face.
2(b).1 - User groups
OS/2 user groups usually have a large contingent of Teamer members, and
there may be one near you. These are mostly found within the USA, although
the International OS/2 User Group is based in Cirencester, UK and many
other countries (such as Germany) now have their own user groups. A list
of OS/2 User Groups is regretably beyond the scope of this document.
2(b).2 - Computer shows / store demos
If you are planning to attend a computer show, it is possible that you will find a group of Teamers helping out there. If you would like to help out with Team activities at the show, then contact IBM's Team OS/2 support, who will probably be able to put you in touch with those organising Team OS/2's presence. Also, Teamers will often help out at store demos of OS/2.
This section is concerned mainly with the electronic distribution of Team
OS/2 and general OS/2 related information, although the final sub-section
covers OS/2 promotional items and software by mail order.
3(a) Where are the principal sources of OS/2 information /
software?
This section is classified by electronic network.
3(a).1 - Fidonet
An extensive selection of OS/2 related material is distributed on file echos called the "Fernwood Collection" and is maintained on the Bear Garden BBS in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. FWOS2INFO is the place to look for Team OS/2 info, much of which can also be FReqed (see glossary) from Janet Gobeille's BBS (1:382/902).
Also worth a mention is the OS/2 Shareware BBS (sysop Pete Norloff, node 1:109/347), located in Fairfax, Virginia, USA, phone number 703-385-4325, carrying one of the widest selections of OS/2 related files and echos in the the world. The BBS is also connected to the Internet at bbs.os2bbs.com (subscribers only) and the WWW at http://www.os2bbs.com.
In England, Monusci, the BBS of the International OS/2 User Group is a
good
source of OS/2 information and files, and access is not restricted to User
Group members. The Sysop is Mike Gove, node number 2:255/100, phone number
(01454) 633197. The International OS/2 User Group has moved since this
information was obtained, so this may be out of date.
3(a).2 - Internet
Several OS/2 related anonymous ftp sites are available on the Internet. The two main sites are
ftp-os2.nmsu.edu Directory: /os2
ftp.cdrom.com Directory: /pub/os2
IBM's own official OS/2 FTP site is located at
software.watson.ibm.com Directory: /pub/os2
The IBM OS/2 device driver repository is at
ftp.europe.ibm.com Directory: /psmemea/os2drivers
These sites are mirrored in several places around the world, including
src.doc.ic.ac.uk (England) Directory: /computing/systems/os2
ftp.funet.fi/pub/os2 (Finland) Directory: /pub/os2
ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de Directory: /pub/comp/os/os2
(Germany)
A more comprehensive list of FTP sites can be found in the
OS/2 FAQ.
For information about ftp, consult the glossary in Section 5
There have been an enormous number of OS/2 related World Wide Web sites set up recently, so much so that it is impossible to list them all here. However, a couple of sites worth looking at, from which you should be able to find the rest, are:
www.ibm.com IBM's own WWW site
www.austin.ibm.com/pspinfo/os2.html
IBM's OS/2 page
www.europe.ibm.com IBM Europe
www.teamos2.org Team OS/2's home on the Web
www.mit.edu:8001/activities/os2/os2world.html
The MIT OS/2 home page
Any details of OS/2 sources on other networks would be greatly
appreciated.
3(b) What general documents are available?
Here is a list of files that may be useful to OS/2 users and Teamers in particular. It is, however, beginning to show its age, and perhaps a better source of information would be the OS/2 Must Have Utilities List at http://www.musthave.com.
Well, you are reading it at the moment. Anything I could say about it seems slightly superfluous in the light of that fact.
This is a list of questions and answers related to OS/2 generally, maintained by Timothy Sipples. It is posted at regular intervals in the comp.os.os2.advocacy newsgroup, and can be found on many ftp sites, as well as some BBSes. There are a small number of FAQs concerned with more specific aspects of OS/2, such as programming. For a list of these, please consult the OS/2 FAQ.
This document, widely distributed on BBSes, is a list of all the Team OS/2 members worldwide who have submitted their names to IBM, along with their location (city and country), and any electronic addresses, enabling Teamers local to each other to get in touch. The filename is TEAMxx.ZIP (xx being a version number).
This list is incredibly out of date, and an update is extremely
unlikely.
3(b).4 - OS/2 installation help file
A list of problems and fixes for use when installing OS/2 2.1, in INF format. Filename is probably INSIN2.ZIP.
INF file containing a brief description of OS/2 Trap messages and what they really mean.
An INF file describing Workplace Shell performance improvements in OS/2
2.1. Filename: WP21PERF.ZIP. Only of historical interest now.
3(b).7 - OS/2 performance tuning.
INF file containing tips to allow you to fine tune your system settings for better OS/2 performance. Filename: OS2PERF.ZIP
A list of useful (and not so useful) things you can do to your OS/2 system in INF format.
APARs are known problems with OS/2 that IBM is in the process of fixing.
The lists contain details of the bugs that IBM know about. Again probably
only of historical interest.
3(b).10 - CONFIG.SYS documents
There are currently two ASCII documents explaining what the sometimes rather cryptic statements in the OS/2 CONFIG.SYS file mean. These are CFGS_11.ZIP and OS2CFG11.ZIP.
Just that. A list of currently shipping applications for OS/2. Often useful when countering rumours that there are no OS/2 applications available.
Contains a list of BBSes that carry OS/2 files and echos throughout the world.
Contains a list of hardware that has been tested by IBM and found to be compatible with OS/2. This can be very useful when buying new hardware, or for finding out if OS/2 will run on a friend's machine. This file is pretty much obsolete now, since OS/2 now runs on almost any PC hardware. Filename: PCMTAB.ZIP.
Similar to the hardware table above, but is compiled from feedback from users who tried to get their hardware running under OS/2. It is in INF format, and is organised by peripheral type (e.g. 'soundcards') - filename GBU109.ZIP
A concise reference containing keyboard shortcuts for various operations.
This electronic newsletter from IBM in INF format aims to keep Teamers worldwide informed and up to date on Team activities worldwide. This is now defunct, but back issues should be widely available. Available from many BBSes as TNEWxx.ZIP (xx is the version number).
Any Teamer wanting to take on the task of creating a newsletter should get in touch with IBM Team OS/2 support (see section 1(b).3 above).
An extremely well presented and professional INF format newsletter produced for the San Diego OS/2 User Group, but distributed worldwide via Fidonet and the Internet. Edited by Dave Sichak, each edition contains OS/2 related articles and reviews, as well as a worldwide list of OS/2 User groups. This is worth checking out. The newsletter has now gone print only, but electronic back issues are still available.
An INF format magazine produced by IBM and aimed at programmers working with OS/2. This magazine tends to contain articles of a more technical nature. The latest filename can be calculated according to the following archaic formula, reproduced from the newsletter itself:
Issue Date Zipped ASCII .INF .PS Pages
10 15 Aug dsn4ja.zip = dsn4j.asc 106
dsn4ji.zip = dsn4j.inf
dsn4jp.zip = dsn4j.ps
11 14 Sep dsn4ka.zip = dsn4k.asc 54
Explanation of names of zipped files for 1993 Issue 7 and later:
DSNymA = Developer Support News 199y issue m ASCII (plain-text)
DSNymI = Developer Support News 199y issue m .INF (use OS/2 VIEW)
DSNymP = Developer Support News 199y issue m .PS (PostScript)
where y = last digit of year (3, 4, ...)
m = issue represented as alpha (1=A, ..., 7=G, 8=H, ...)
For example, DSN3GI is 1993 issue 7 (=G), the 15 October issue, in .INF
format (after being unzipped).
CON1296.ZIP -
OS/2 Connect
EDMI4_1.ZIP
-
Electronic Developer's Magazine/2
PROS1296.ZIP
-
PROS/2 - Tampa Bay OS/2 Users Group Newsletter
3(d) Where can OS/2 promotional items / software be
found?
3(d).1 - Indelible Blue Inc. (USA)
Indelible Blue is an OS/2 only mail order vendor with a large stock of applications. They also have franchises worldwide. Any details on these would be much appreciated.
Address: Indelible Blue, Inc.,
3209 Gresham Lake Road,
Suite 135,
Raleigh, North Carolina, 27615
USA
Phone: 800-776-8284 (USA only), 919-878-9700
Fax: 919-878-7479
Office Hours: 8:30am - 7:00 pm EST Monday-Friday.
CompuServe: 70670,2352
WWW: http://www.indelible-blue.com/ib
Lees-Keystone stock a wide range of OS/2 trinkets and promotional items such as mouse mats, car stickers etc. They also stock Team OS/2 specific items such as T-shirts.
Lees-Keystone are known for having high shipping costs. Be sure to check these before ordering.
Phone: (800) 717-7666 (USA only)
(914) 273-6755
Fax: (914) 273-9187
An offshoot of the International OS/2 User group, based at the same address, this mail order vendor stocks a large range of OS/2 products and services, aimed primarily at business customers.
Phone: +44 (0)1494 444362
OneStop Software aim to be the most comprehensive source of OS/2 products in Europe. They will ship outside the UK.
Address: OneStop Software
Maggs House
78 Queens Road
Clifton
BS8 1QX
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0)117 985 3370
(9.30 - 5.30 Mon. - Fri. - answering machine out of hours)
Fax: +44 (0)117 985 3373
WWW: http://www.onestop.co.uk
Address: J3 Computer Technologies
8851 Central Ave., #G-316
Montclair, CA 91763
USA
WWW: http://www.os2store.com
Phone: (800) 787 0930 (USA only)
(909) 985 6786
Fax: (909) 981 5423
This section is intended to give an introduction to the history of
OS/2, as
well as a brief explanation of the rather confusing splintering of OS/2
versions that has occurred recently.
4(a) - History of OS/2
In 1987, IBM and Microsoft released OS/2 version 1.0 as the successor to MS DOS, the PC operating system shipped with the original IBM PC. OS/2 ran on a 286 or better processor, and required a minimum of 2MB of RAM.
OS/2 version 1 was enhanced and improved jointly by IBM and MS, and for version 1.1 a GUI (see Glossary below) was added. Version 1.2 introduced the High Performance File System (HPFS), and also a plethora of bugs.
At about this time, MS and IBM started to disagree over the future of OS/2, and Microsoft pulled out of the project, leaving IBM to develop a more stable OS/2 1.3 on its own.
OS/2 1.x never sold in great volume, and enjoyed only a moderate success in the corporate market for a variety of reasons. It did not run on most non-IBM manufactured hardware, was not really backwardly compatible (having very limited DOS program support), and suffered from a lack of applications.
In 1991, IBM released OS/2 version 2.0, a new version of OS/2 for 386 and higher processors requiring a minimum of 4MB (6MB for practical purposes) of RAM, and featuring a redesigned object oriented GUI called the Workplace Shell. It also introduced multiple DOS sessions that would run the majority of old DOS applications, as well as built in support for Windows programs through a licensed version of the Windows 3.0 code.
Version 2.1 added improvements in performance and usability, as well as Windows 3.1 support and built in multimedia. IBM then followed this up with OS/2 for Windows, which would take users' existing copies of Windows, and modify them to allow them to run under OS/2. The next release of OS/2, called OS/2 Warp version 3, built on this with substantial an improved install process, reduced memory requirements, and support for many more hardware devices. This was followed by OS/2 Warp Connect, which added full TCP/IP support and Peer to Peer networking to the Warp bundle.
The launch of OS/2 Warp version 4 marked a shift in policy for IBM away
from the home and small office user towards a corporate environment. The
major enhancements were speech to text dictation software and built in
Java support as well as a complete suit of networking programs. Beneath
the surface, however, Warp 4 has little to offer that cannot be
accomplished using Warp 3.
4(b) - The OS/2 family
There are a number of versions of OS/2 about. Hopefully this will explain the differences. Where products have not yet been released, details are obviously sketchy and subject to change.
Warp comes in four flavours: OS/2 Warp, OS/2 with Win-OS/2, OS/2 Warp Connect and OS/2 Warp Connect with Win-OS/2. The 'with WIN-OS/2' versions include Windows code from IBM (as well as the cost of a Windows license, naturally). Users of OS/2 2.1 can upgrade to 'with Win-OS/2' versions of OS/2 Warp. The Connect versions are designed to allow easy connection to local area networks, and come with built in peer to peer networking facilities.
This section is intended to explain some of the terms used by Teamers and in this document. The world of computing in general seems to be rife with jargon, and this can be confusing for the newcomer. Hopefully, things will be a little clearer after having read this section.
Version 2.41 is as usual long overdue, but contains only minor corrections to version 2.4, as well as noting the sad demise of official IBM support for Team OS/2.
Version 2.4 contains more updates (mostly IBM contact information) plus a new question (again about Team OS/2 and other OSes). Since I no longer moderate the Fidonet Team OS/2 echo, I've handed over maintainence of what used to be Appendix A (information specific to that echo) to the new moderator. As a result the Revision History now becomes Appendix A. Exciting, eh?
The long overdue version 2.3 involves a few cosmetic changes, a load of updates (sigh, the world moves too fast for me), and a complete translation to HTML. The text version is now generated from the HTML version. (anyone who has an HTML to IPF source converter would make my day if they'd send me a copy). I've also added a couple of new questions (on other operating systems, and appropriate topics in the Fidonet Team OS/2 echo). OneStop Software was also added to the software sources list.
Version 2.20 is an attempt to make the information contained here more current.
Version 2.10 updates some information that has become out of date since version 2.01. The section on sources of information has been greatly expanded (thanks to Byron Huang for this info), and a new section on the history and versions of OS/2 has been added. Question 1(a).5, dealing with Teamers and Windows, is also new. OS/2 Internet mailing list details are now included, in section 2(a).2.
This document is intended to be a universal source of Team OS/2 related information, but does contain a few gaping holes, notably relating to electronic networks that I do not participate in. In particular, I must apologise for the US/anglocentric focus of this document, as these are the areas for which such information is readily available to me. It is my hope that individuals with knowledge in areas that I lack would send it to me for inclusion in the next release. Thank you.