Answers from e-Zine!

Welcome back to your source for answers to all your OS/2 questions! Each month we bring you tips, tricks, questions and answers from our readers and contributors. If you've got a question or tip you would like to share with us, send it in!

Q -- I bought a pen and pad combo from Wacom that doesn't like OS/2; I find that although Wacom has a driver for OS/2, it will not work without Pen for OS/2.

Can you recommend a pen/tablet that will run under OS/2 and that won't force me to buy Pen for OS/2?

A -- I use ACECAD's AceCat II digitizer tablet. It comes with drivers for OS/2 that also work in Windows sessions (with limitations -- it's buggy if you try a full screen Win-OS/2 session, but other than that it works quite well). It installs fairly easily and the company claims to have OS/2 tech support (the one time I tried I was told their tech would call me back -- never heard from them again.)

The AceCat can theoretically work in conjunction with a mouse or trackball, but I've never managed to pull it off. It works great as a standalone mouse though (and you can program each button and the tip of the pen).

Something to keep in mind in general: a digitizer tablet/pen combo is great for art, but it's a little awkward for standard mouse tasks. You can get used to it, though.

Q -- Every once in a while, I notice that I have some (not all) files of the same type "associated" with a Microsoft Windows program (e.g., INI files are associated with Windows' NOTEPAD.EXE). If I inadvertently double-click on them, Warp attempts to load a Windows session in the background, but eventually fails and locks up my PC. And, what is worse, it locks up my PC in such a state that the only thing I can do is to literally turn off the power switch on my surge protector!

Here are the manifestations: I double-click, I get an hourglass, I hear lots of disk I/O (the screen has never left OS/2), and then I hear ticking on my hard disk and my PC is locked up with no visual errors or traps from OS/2. Additionally, because I have an IBM PS/1 with "Rapid Resume", I can not turn off my PC via the power switch. I must essentially disconnect the power to the machine to reboot.

Do you have any ideas or suggestions on how to make Warp seamlessly open a Windows session in the background? Thanks.

A -- You might want to try a program called SeamWin3.exe which opens a do-nothing Win-OS2 session. It is downloadable from many OS/2 software sites, such as David Barnes', etc. You may also want to try WatchCat, a shareware program that lets you kill processes that give undesirable results without shutting down. It is available on the Web too.

Q -- I am trying to find a tool, application, product, whatever, that provides long file name support (HPFS file names) for Windows applications running under Win-OS2. It would be nice if it supported DOS applications as well. Have you any ideas, suggestions or pointers?

A -- Unfortunately this is one useful utility that seems to be have been overlooked by developers. To our knowledge, no such application exists.

Q -- A couple of years ago there were a few places that sold OS/2 personal items, like coffee mugs, pens, jumpers, etc. Now that OS/2 is supporting me, I actually need pens, mouse pads, perhaps a coffee mug, etc. Do you know who sells these items now?

A -- Indelible Blue sells this kind of stuff (as well as hardware and software). Give them a call at (800) 776-8284 (from the US or Canada) or give their Web page a look.

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