The News Written by Aram Agajanian

OS/2 On June 29, IBM released details about the next release of Warp Server, codenamed Aurora. Planned features now include support for NT Server administration in Warp Server's native administration GUI. Warp Server will also be able to synchronize user accounts and passwords with NT servers. Warp Server will also allow users to gain access to applications, files, and other services from other servers (including NT Servers) through a Warp Server. Support for I2O device drivers is also planned for Aurora. I2O is a specification for SCSI and LAN device drivers that is expected to be widely supported on many platforms. Previously annouced features in Aurora include JFS support and improved web serving capabilities. A beta is planned for late 1998 with general availability planned for 1999. However, International Data Corporation (IDC) reported that in 1997 OS/2 server shipments were down 36 percent while NT Server shipments were up 73 percent and Unix server shipments were up 17 percent. IBM released several device driver updates on the OS/2 Device Driver Pack web site. Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers made their first appearance in July. Driver updates have been posed for the MS Intellimouse, the Cirrus Logic CL GD5465 chipset (GRADD), Matrox video cards, and S3 Trio 3D video cards. The IDE drivers have been updated to support drives with a capacity of greater than 8.4 GB. IBM has a new web site which has the purpose of helping OS/2 and PC DOS users assess the Y2K readiness of their systems. IBM IBM's Network Computing Software Division (NCSD), which develops OS/2, was reorganized in July. NCSD's four deparments were combined into two. Java and OS/2 is one department and Security and E-Network Software is another. The General Manager of Java and OS/2 is Patricia Sueltz, who was previously the General Manager of Java. The General Manager of Security and E-Network Software is Jeff Jaffe, who was previously the General Manager of Security Software. The General Manager of NCSD is Al Zoller. Java Several updates to the Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.1.6 were posted during July at IBM's Hursley Park Laboratories for download via ftp. The lastest version is build o116-19980728. IBM released a Beta of VisualAge for Java Version 2.0 on July 21, PCWeek reported. Version 2.0 was said to include a high-performance compiler, a remote debugger, improved source code control, an open API for accessing tools and JavaBeans, and an IDL environment for communcating with CORBA-compliant services. It was reported to support the JDK 1.1.6 and the Swing 1.0.2 classes. The VisualAge for Java Beta Program Coordinator, Anca Puiu, announced that there will be no OS/2 beta release for Version 2. The OS/2 general availability version will be released simulataneously with the Windows version, however. IBM has updated the High Performance Compiler for Java (HPJ) for OS/2 at AlphaWorks. Ed Tomlinson has released version 0.35 of his njPipes sofware. njPipes is a port of CMS/TSO Pipelines to Java. Brad Barclay has released a Public Gamma version of his Java Serial Handler package. It currently consists of a native OS/2 DLL which is called from Java code. Barclay is seeking testers for this release. Documentation and source code is available. Rexx Alpha Release 3 of the VisualNetRexx Integrated Development Environment for IBM's NetRexx was released on June 27. Included in this release are an editor, an front end to the NetRexx compiler as well as project, category, and package tree views of source code. Alpha 3 requires the Swing 1.0.2 classes and NetRexx 1.139 as well as a JDK 1.1.5 or higher. It can be downloaded via the web. Database MaxBase 1.18 is now available for download at BMT Micro. MaxBase is a database application that allows local and network access to database services. It includes a report generator, a server, and the capability to import and export to various formats. MaxBase also provides an API to its services for developers. MaxBase requires Java 1.1. A new port of mSQL is available. It is a developers release based upon the version 2.0.4.1 Unix sources and Dirk Ohme's port of mSQL 2.0.1. It includes all of the standard mSQL utilities and the web gateway. EMX 0.9cFix4 is required. The port is downloadable from the mSQL Home Page. mSQL is a free SQL database that is commonly used for serving web documents. xDBView, a freeware VIO DBF viewer/editor with HTML exporting cabapilities is available for download at OGCs Home Page. It features search, index, and reporting functions and uses DBase command syntax. Help VyperHelp is a new visual outliner and editor for creating IPF files to be compiled into HLP and INF documents. Features include WYSIWYG editing, outline tree controls, keyword/index support, and WinHelp (HPJ) import. A prerelease version of VyperHelp is available on Hobbes. It can be freely used and distributed until October 31. Web IBM has made a beta version of the much-anticipated Netscape Communicator 4.04 for OS/2 available to the public for download via the web. A new version (0.71b1) of the Internet Protocol Server/2 has been released. IPS/2 supports the FTP, SMTP, and POP3 protocols. This release adds support for the FTP ABOR(T) command and fixes some bugs. IPS/2 can be downloaded from hobbes. Home Page Publisher 2.0 "level D" was made available on June 30 via its web page. This version adds the capability to choose between several dictionaries and fixes the keyboard support for accented keys. NetLookout watches Web, FTP, and Gopher sites and reacts if there is a change in content. Version 2.08 has been released and is available on hobbes. ALiVe! is a utility to automatically verify the links in a web site. Version 1.0 Beta 3 was released in July. More information is available about this product at its home page. An updated version of the Binary HTTP Reader has been updated to preversion 0.85d. The Binary HTTP Reader has been designed to download files in groups from web servers. One interesting feature is the capability to emulate other types of web browsers when making requests. The Binary HTTP Reader can be downloaded online. Gunn Software has released GunnProxy, a proxy server written in Java. GunnProxy allows users full use of SMTP, POP3, NNTP, FTP, IRC, HTTP, UDP, SSL, and other protocols. A JDK 1.1-compliant Java Virtual Machine is required. Internet Gate 1.41 proxy server has been released by MaccaSoft. New features include support for the Ident and IMAP4 protocols. PMStripper, a utility that strips HTML codes from text files, has been updated to version 1.17. New features include the translating of HTML quotes and the option to only pick up only HTTP links. The software is shareware and is available online at BMT Micro. The Apache web server has been updated to v1.3.1. The Xitami webserver has been updated to Version 2.3d. This is a recommended upgrade. Text Editor The SemWare Editor, a powerful text-mode text editor, is now available at BMT Micro. TSE can open files of up to 30 MB in size. Included is LOOK/2, a text file viewer and directory management utility. For more information, visit Semware's web site. Font engine A second beta of the FreeType font engine DLL has been made available for OS/2. Improvements include better performance, reduced memory consumption, internationalization support, and Unicode support. FreeType claims to do better font rendering than the TrueType engine in Warp 4. Job control EcoSNAP is a product that manages running processes. EcoSNAP can detect failures, register an alert, and help pinpoint the failure in source code. EcoSNAP was formerly known as Fault-XPERT for OS/2. More information can be obtained from Compuware. News items to news@edm2.com