MINUTES OF 11/9/94 MEETING
and Personal Comments
by Jim Clark, Tampa PC Users Group

An important meeting for our group, with nominations for officers, and the weather, though a bit threatening, cooperated. We also had a major and increasingly popular piece of software to be reviewed — OS/2 Ver. 3.0 Warp.

SECOND BBS 14.4 MODEM ON HAND: Our group has acquired a second 14.4 modem for use with the BBS. It is an external version and will be placed into use as soon as the ADOPTBBS fundraiser generates enough funds to pay for installation and first year's use of a second telephone line. Harvey called attention to the how-goes-it chart in the newsletter which shows the generation of funds still far below that needed to upgrade the BBS with more file space and a second telephone line, and he emphasized the importance of supporting the ADOPTBBS fund-raiser if we are to realize these improvements in the BBS.

NOMINATIONS: Harvey reported that several of the present officers who have served for several years have expressed their intent to not serve in the coming term. However, most decided that the loss of so many on the BOD at one time could jeopardize continuity for the group and agreed to serve again, if nominated and elected, but for only one more year. Harvey pointed out that it is essential for creativity as well as the continued life of the group that new blood come aboard the BOD. It was also noted that our members must become more active in helping the group to improve by contributing their time and effort to generate new members and perform services for the group as a whole.

Nominations were made for the elected positions on the BOD as follows:

1. President: Harvey Bruneau (incumbent)
2. Vice President: None (it was not known if Al Poole would serve again)
3. Treasurer: Tom Cone (Incumbent - not present at the time and assumed he would serve)
4. Secretary: None
5. Member At Large: Roger Waters (incumbent)

No new blood was nominated for any of the positions. Members may submit nominations via mail and/or make nominations at the December meeting up to the time of the election. It is extremely important to the group that additional nominees be obtained and that these positions be filled.

Harvey outlined what should be some of our objectives for the coming year, and will be if he is again elected. These included more SIGs, more member-to-member sessions at our meetings where we could help each other with problem solving, using things we already have, working on computers, using DOS, Windows, the BBS and others, demonstrations on installing and setting up components, etc.; and membership of at least 300. None of these objectives are achievable without more active participation from our membership. One of the easiest ways we could all help is to bring in just one new member. Try it, you might like it!

IBM was good enough to make Carolyn White, one of IBM's Workplace Marketing Specialists, available to give us a rundown on the new version of OS/2, called Warp, they just released. And a fine job she did, too. She began by noting some of the reasons “Why OS/2?” Among them are safer operations because program failures, such as occur in Windows, are contained within the offending program and do not force rebooting the computer as is now usually the case in Windows and DOS; OS/2 is an operating system itself and doesn't rely on DOS or any other operating system; it provides better memory management, and is not inhibited with the constraints that have long limited DOS; it allows simultaneous operation of DOS, Windows and OS/2 applications and supports interchange of information between all three; and it is an operating system designed to make best use of new hardware technology.

You all are at least a little familiar and know what a large and powerful program it is — well beyond the scope of this little section of the newsletter. I will only point out some of the improvements that have been made compared to previous versions of OS/2. First, IBM says that this program is designed specifically for the home PC user, the student and the business executive, and great emphasis has been placed on making it truly user friendly. Warp combines the advanced OS/2 32-bit operating environment with new features for productivity, reduced memory requirements, and ease of use and productivity enhancements. Among them are:

• Redesigned and simplified installation that automatically configures your system; imagine avoiding all those address and configuration conflicts.
• Much faster and smoother operation of Windows and Windows programs.
• Enhanced print performance and significantly improved monochrome and color bitmap printing due to new 32-bit printer drivers.
• New easier to use tutorial that shows best use of OS/2 to fit your style.
• Customizable program Launch Pad for ready access to your most used applications and features.
• Automatic configuration of PCMCIA cards through a "Play at Will" interface which permits putting in another PCMCIA card without having to reboot your laptop.
• Includes a set of popular OS/2 Windows audio device drivers.
• Improved user interface and graphics.
• Now requires only 4 Mb of RAM.
• Warp also includes a number of features and utilities in a “Bonus Pak'“:
• OS/2 CompuServe Access.
• Person-to-person for OS/2: Desk-top conference software where you can share files or multimedia with another computer.
• FaxWorks for OS/2 where you can send, receive and print faxes as you desire.
• IBM Installation Utility & System Information Tool which allows quick, convenient access to detailed info about your soft/hardware.
• Access to Internet which will automatically configure for free hours on IBM's WEB service, and includes several Internet applications including Gopher, Mosaic, News Reader and E-Mail.
• Provides a suite of applications including a word processor, spreadsheet, report writer and database.
• An organizer to keep track of addresses, phone numbers, to-do lists, and calendars all in one place.

Requirements for OS/2 Warp are a 386 machine or higher, 4 Mb of RAM (though 8 Mb or more is preferred), DOS 3.1 or higher installed if you plan to run DOS applications, Windows 3.1 or higher in-stalled if you plan to run Windows applications, and 30 Mb of disk space for minimum loading and up to 55 Mb for a complete installation, including all the bells and whistles. Carolyn was using a 386/25 MHz with 8 Mb of RAM for the demonstration and while performance was not really fast, it was acceptable. And what a bargain. IBM reports a street price of under $80; Computer City has OS/2 Warp on 3.5" floppies at this writing for $69.97. Carolyn and IBM, THANK YOU very much for a great introduction to a super program. OS/2 has been and is of great interest to our members and we hope that you will keep us abreast of future developments.

AND THE WINNER IS Thanks to the generosity of Carolyn White and IBM., there were several very nice door prizes. Those among us to have the good fortune to win are:

The meeting adjourned at about 9 PM. u