****************************************************************************** Frequently asked questions PC/2 - Programm Commander/2 Version 1.60 for IBM OS/2 2.x Presentation Manager Copyright (C) by Stangl Roman 06, 1993 Version 1.60 Draft ****************************************************************************** 1.) How can I configure PC/2 to popup the menu after a single-click instead of the default double-click with mouse button 1 on the desktop? By adding the commandline option -SingleClick or /SingleClick to parameters field in the setting of the PC/2 object. If you run PC/2 as a WPS replacement, you can't use any commandline option, because OS/2 seems to dislike commandline options on programs run as the WPS. 2.) PC/2 assumes that OS/2 is installed on drive C:, but I use drive H:! Either start with a blank menu and add your programs, or use an editor f.e. EPM.EXE to replace all C: to H: in the profile. 3.) How do I add DOS Settings correctly? First you should use the same spelling as in the settings of a DOS program. They have usually ON/OFF or numbers as possible selections. For ON/OFF you add =1 or =0 to the setting, f.e. HW_TIMER=1. For numbers add =xxxx, f.e. EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT=1024. 4.) How can I add batch files? Batch files aren't executable files, they need a command processor to interprete them. Therefore you have to select a command processor and add /C filename.bat or /C filename.cmd to the parameters entryfield. You may whish to look at the command reference of CMD.EXE and COMMAND.COM for more details. If you use the standard file dialog to find the batch file you want to add, PC/2 automatically add this batch file as an argument of an command processor. 5.) Is HPFS supported? Yes, PC/2 fully supports HPFS. However, if a filename contains spaces you have to place it in double-quotes, f.e. at a command prompt you whould type DIR "D:\OS!2 2.0 Desktop\*" /s to list all files of the Desktop directory. The same is true for PC/2, f.e. you want to start a batchfile that conforms HPFS-filename convention, you may create an entry: Program Title: HPFS-Test Path and Filename: C:\OS!2 2.0 Desktop\Prompts\Command Processor.exe Working Directory: C:\OS!2 User Applications Parameters: /C ""C:\OS!2 2.0 Desktop\Run Me.cmd"" Note: Passing HPFS-filenames to command processors may required two double-quotes (f.e. CMD.EXE does). Also take a look at the help pages for CMD.EXE to get more details. 6.) How do I start a full-screen WIN-OS2 session? Create an entry that of a full-screen DOS command prompt that starts WINOS2.COM (f.e. C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2\WINOS2.COM). Then add the required DOS Settings (f.e. the following settings greatly improve performance on a 8514/A adapter: VIDEO_8514_XGA_IOTRAP=0, VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION=0, VIDEO_SWITCH_NOTIFICATION=1, XMS=64, EMS=0, DPMI=4, IDLE_SECONDS=2, IDLE_SENSITIVITY=100, HW_ROM_TO_RAM=1. Thanks to Timothy Sipples for them!). 7.) How do I start any windowed WIN-OS2 session type? Sorry, I don't know it myself. For a WIN-OS2 session you can usually specifying in the settings: WIN-OS2 full screen, WIN-OS2 window and seperate session. If someone knows which OS/2 APIs are used to start sessions with these settings, please mail me! You can use MAKEOBJ.CMD to create a WPS Object with a known Object ID. Such an object can then be started with PC/2, so if you want to start a seamless WIN-OS2 session first create an object that corresponds to a seamless WIN-OS2 session and then use the defined object ID as the filename of that object to start is via PC/2. PC/2 now allows you to start seamless WIN-OS2 session without any WPS Object defined, but only in seperate sessions, even if the WPS is not running (OS/2 2.1 GA only!). 8.) How do I start a VDM from an image? First create the image, then create an entry of a full-screen or windowed DOS session. Then add to the DOS settings: DOS_STARTUP_DRIVE=[path]DISK.IMG where [path]DISK.IMG is the path and filename of the image you wand to start. Caution! On my system (2.0 GA) it doesn't work, I don't know why. 9.) How do I start a VDM that boots from drive A:? Same a item 8.) says, only adjust the DOS settings to: DOS_STARTUP_DRIVE=A: Caution! On my system (2.0 GA) the system traps, I don't know why. 10.) Why has PC/2 an option to shut down OS/2? Some people use PC/2 as a replacement for the WPS (that sames memory) and they can't click with button 2 to get the popup menu, from where shutdown can be selected. PC/2 requests OS/2 to clear all filebuffers. After all disk activity has been stopped it is safe to power off your system. PC/2 don't closes the programs, but after the disk activity has stopped, all processes are frozen (you can switch to or select programs anymore). 11.) How do I add commandline parameters a run-time? F.e. assume you created an Menuentry that start the editor EPM.EXE. After you selected EPM, just before it is started, you can request a dialog box from PC/2, where you can enter any commandline parameter by adding a [...] construct in the parameters entryfield of the Program Installation dialog. This work similar to the same WPS feature. 12.) How do I install PC/2 as a replacement of the WPS? First, install PC/2 in the normal way. Second, edit your CONFIG.SYS to replace the statement (you may have to use another drive name instead of C:): SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE by REM * SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE SET RUNWORKPLACE=h:\path\PC2.EXE where h:\path is the path where you installed PC/2 into, f.e. C:\PMAPPS\PC2. The next time you boot, the WPS will not be loaded (you can verify this by a blank screen displayed instead of the normal Desktop with objects. Not using the WPS saves memory and reduces boot time lightly. Of course you may start the WPS later, either by starting PMSHELL.EXE from a command prompt or from an PMSHELL Menuitem of PC/2. You can follow the WPS initialization by heavy disk access and buildup of your Desktop with objects. PC/2 requires to know the Desktop (in technical terms the window handle of the Desktop) to be able to catch mouse button 1 clicks. If you start the WPS the Desktop changes too. Therefor you must restart PC/2 by selecting PC/2 and close it from the task list. PC/2 will automatically restarted by OS/2 (because it is the WORKPLACE that runs) and then work as before. 13.) How do I add WPS Objects to start then via PC/2? The important thing is, that you have to know the WPS Object ID (Identifier) to be able to add them to PC/2. For preinstalled Objects, you can find the ID in the file C:\OS2\OS2_20.RC (sorry I don't know any other method to get them). For user-installed Objects, you have to use MAKEOBJ.CMD, a small REXX-utility supplied with PC/2, to create an Object with a known ID. You can't use Objects created by the Program Template, because I don't know how to get the ID of such Objects, if you know how to get the ID of such Objects, p l e a s e mail me. The ID of Objects, created as outlined above, may than be added in the entryfield Path and Filename in the Program Installation dialog, with the Program Type WPS Object. If such an Object is a seamless WIN-OS2 session, PC/2 can also start such a seamless WIN-OS2 session - but remember, without an Object created with a known ID no seamless WIN-OS2 support with PC/2! 14.) How do I use Drag & Drop? Additional to the standard file dialog, you may use Drag & Drop to add applications in the Program Installation dialog. F.e. you may use a drive object, select one (1 !) application drag it into the dialog and drop it onto any area that accepts it (any area that isn't coverd by text, buttons, entryfields,...). PC/2 will try to determine the type of the application you added automatically, but you may overwrite it. 15.} How can I add WPS Objects? If you drag WPS Objects onto the dialog, you must ensure, that the entry- field Path and Filename contains the correct Object ID, and the Program Type is WPS Object. For preinstalled Objects, you may need to look into OS2_20.RC to the the Object ID, f.e. or . For user-installed Objects, use MAKEOBJ.CMD to create an Object with a known Object ID, f.e. or . Then select the Object, and drag a copy over the Program Installation dialog and drop it on an area that accepts it. For preinstalled Object you have to verify that the entryfield Path and Filename contains the Object ID of this object. For user-installed Object (with MAKEOBJ.CMD) the entryfield Path and Filename should contain the Object ID, as long as you didn't rename the created Object. 16.) Does PC/2 change to the root of all drives except for the working dir? Yes, PC/2 changes to the root of all non-removable drives before the selected application is started. 17.) Which versions of OS/2 are supported? PC/2 was developed under OS/2 2.0 GA and OS/2 2.1 GA, but I know it works under the December 2.1 beta and under the March 2.1 beta too. 18.) How do I enable the virtual Desktop and/or sliding Focus? Start PC/2, click on the Desktop and select SETUP DESKTOP. A dialog box will appear where you can enable these features. Just press help for further information. 19.) How does the sliding Focus work? OS/2 generates for all pointer movements messages, that contain the window where the message originated. PC/2 hooks into these messages and determines the active window. If the active window is not the window that originated the message, it makes the window active, where the message originated. Of course, PC/2's window, the Desktop and the window list are treated differently. To preserve the Z-order of the windows, also check its option. Caution! The sliding Focus does not work well, if you have open seamless WIN-OS2 sessions. 20.) How do I use the enabled virtual Desktop? You may know that f.e. a VGA-display has usually 640 columns and 480 rows (numbered from 0...639 and 0...479). If you position your mouse pointer over the surrounding rows and/or columns of your display (here columns 0 or 639 and/or rows 0 or 479) PC/2 shifts all windows that exist on your system (with some exceptions like window list) in the opposite direction. Some windows may slide out, some may slide in from the other direction. 21.) How does the virtual Desktop work? First, for all windows OS/2 tracks their coordinates in data structures. PC/2 queries, and adjustes them according to the mouse movements the user made. F.e. if the mouse pointer is over column 0 on the screen, PC/2 adds to the x-position of all windows 25, 50, 75 or 100 % of the x-dimension of the screen. The windows appear to move rightwards (out of the display) because the display shift leftward within the virtual Desktop. Because windows are usually aligned on byte-boundaries, they may not appear on their original place if you shift one unit in one direction and one unit in the opposite direction. 22.) How do I start applications on the virtual Desktop? In the Program Installation dialog, you can define the size and position that the application should use. You can f.e. enter a position of -200 in X, which would position the application left out of your Desktop. Some applications overwrite these values, so this may not work. 23.) What's the name of the Desktop? OS/2 2.0 introduced the name "OS/2 2.0 Desktop" for the Desktop window, which normally is the WPS. OS/2 2.1 will use the name "Desktop" instead, if you install it over a newly formatted system. OS/2 2.1 may use a different name, if you install it over a previous OS/2 2.0 system, so please read the README file provided with OS/2 2.1 carefully. 24.) What about seamless WIN-OS2 support, without a corresponding WPS object? PC/2 now allows you to start seamless WIN-OS2 sessions, but only as seperate sessions. This means, if you start a Windows application, the complete WIN-OS2 environment will come up. This wastes memory, so I suggest to start only the Windows Program Manager from PC/2 and any Windows application then from the Program Manager. This seamless WIN-OS2 support works also without the WPS installed, under OS/2 2.1 GA with no problems, but OS/2 2.0 GA hangs during load. So under OS/2 2.0 GA only start seamless WIN-OS2 sessions if the WPS is running. Under OS/2 2.0 GA you can only sucessfully start WIN-OS2 sessions in standard mode, 386 enhanced mode in not supported by OS/2 and real mode starts to load, but doesn't complete sucessfully for unknown reasons.. Under OS/2 2.1 GA is real mode not supported, so you may only start standard and 386 enhanced sessions. 25.) How many applications can I start within a seamless WIN-OS2 session? Usually only 1, but you may start the Windows Program Manager as the first and any Windows applications as a commandline parameter, which the Program Manager will start for you. If you start the Program Manager you can of course start any Windows application from it, but make sure, that you have enough storage defined in the DOS Settings (usually DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT=16 or so). Please read also the help panels and enjoy! Roman Stangl