April 8, 1996 The next meeting of the Capital PC User Group (CPCUG) OS/2 Special Interest Group is Wednesday, April 10, at the Maryland Department of Transportation - State Highway Administration's Statewide Operations Center in Hanover, Maryland (Anne Arundel County, south of BWI Airport). Directions are at the end of this file. NOTE: This is a special, consolidated meeting for April 1996 only! The SIG will NOT meet in Virginia in April. AGENDA FOR OS/2 SIG MEETINGS 7:30 p.m. General SIG business, including: General Q&A Announcements Product news/rumors SIG news 8:00 p.m. Feature presentation, "Chesapeake Highway Advisory Routing Traffic (CHART) System" The Statewide Operations Center is the hub of Maryland's Chesapeake Highway Advisory Routing Traffic (CHART) system, and is based on a network of OS/2 workstations (hence, our interest). CHART's mission is to improve real time traffic operations of the Maryland highway system through teamwork and technology. Currently, CHART monitors 375 miles of Interstate highways in Maryland, including I-95, I-70, I-495 (Capital Beltway) and I-695 (Baltimore Beltway), and 170 miles of arterial roads. CHART also controls the system of variable message signs. Our main speaker will be Lee McMichael, Team Leader, of the State Highway Administration. We will also hear from a representative of the firm (JHK and Associates) that performed the systems integration work for the center. The Statewide Operations Center is located at 7491 Connelley Drive, Hanover, Maryland. See (lengthy!) directions below. Car pools are available from both Maryland and northern Virginia. If you are interested in finding (or providing) a ride, and have not notified us, please contact: Donna Walker (Virginia), 703.876.4527 (days) 703.968.5738 (evenings, until 11 p.m.) Patrick Zilliacus (Maryland), 301.384.0972 (evenings). FUTURE SIG FEATURES In May, we have tentatively scheduled a product update from Rhintek. OS/2 SIG MAIL LIST PROCESSOR The OS/2 SIG's mail list processor, hosted by Pete Norloff and the OS/2 Shareware BBS, is used for SIG business only. Traffic on this list is limited to OS/2 SIG meeting announcements and (occasionally) other items deemed (by the SIG officers) to be of general interest to our members. If you are seeing SIG meeting notices elsewhere (MIX, WWW, mail routed by a friend, etc.) and would like to receive your own notification, we invite you to subscribe to the mailing list. To ADD your name to the mailing list: ------------------------------------- Send E-mail to OS2SIG@listserv.os2bbs.com with Subject: subscribe (one word only). Do *NOT* put your request in the body of the note! You will receive a confirmation message. Subscribers automatically receive items that are posted to the list. To REMOVE your name from the mailing list: ------------------------------------------ Send E-mail to OS2SIG@listserv.os2bbs.com with Subject: unsubscribe (one word only). Do *NOT* put your request in the body of the note! You will receive a confirmation message. OTHER SIG NEWS Please visit the CPCUG OS/2 SIG's Web page at: http://www.os2bbs.com/os2sig Our profuse thanks also to Pete Norloff and the OS/2 Shareware BBS for providing resources for the Web page. OTHER OS/2 NEWS The following news arrived recently from Adobe: ---------------------------------------------- Now available on the Web: Adobe's first sneak preview version of the Adobe Acrobat Reader for OS/2. You can find the OS/2 reader (and other platform versions) by pointing your WebExplorer to http://www.adobe.com/Amber From this page you may get access to areas where you can download the viewer, report problems, and give feedback to Adobe. PLEASE NOTE: this product requires Warp and later versions of OS/2. ******** Also note: Adobe keeps track of the number of viewers of each type downloaded, and we are very curious to see how many folks are interested in this product. ******** Thank you, and enjoy! -The Acrobat for OS/2 Team The following news arrived recently from DeScribe, Inc.: ------------------------------------------------------- DeScribe, Inc. today <27 March 1996, ed.> announced it has suspended development of the DeScribe Word Processor. The popular DeScribe Voyager CD with Mesa 2 and the Five User Enterprise CD will continue to be marketed through the standard OS/2 retail channels. Unlimited Corporate Licenses and Century LANs will no longer be marketed, but will be available upon request. All ongoing promotions, including the combined DeScribe Voyager CD and Mesa 2 promotion will continue as scheduled through 4/30/96. DeScribe technical support will remain unchanged but may be subject to adjustment based on future sales levels. To facilitate continued user support and interaction, DeScribe will apply to establish an Internet newsgroup. DeScribe has attempted on numerous occasions to locate a purchaser for its technology. This search has not been successful. Sales of DeScribe products have been too low to permit the company to become profitable. DeScribe, Inc. owner and CEO Mr. James P. Lennane stated, "As one of the earliest OS/2 ISV's and, after seven years of involvement with IBM's OS/2, it is with great reluctance that we are abandoning our effort. On the other hand there is no evidence of an improving market to justify further forbearance." "We believed in OS/2 as well as in DeScribe and our customers. We wish to thank them for their support over the years and regret any inconvenience caused in 1994 by the expiring software policy. We are sorry to give up the struggle, however, we simply could not overcome the market forces against us without the aid of a strong sponsor. It is time to move on." DeScribe, Inc. has considered placing DeScribe 5 in the public domain. However, DeScribe, Inc., has been unable to obtain the acquiescence of its sublicensees in this regard. As a partial step in this direction DeScribe, Inc. will remove the expiration date from the demonstration product available for download from http://www.describe.com James P. Lennane CEO DeScribe, Inc. INTERESTING OS/2-RELATED WEB SITES In our meanderings on the World Wide Web (WWW) we learned of some WWW sites of interest to OS/2 folks. This is by no means a complete list but is included here for your enjoyment. If you know of a WWW site that you think is of particular interest to SIG members, please let us know and we'll list it in a future newsletter. http://www.haligonian.com/os2/ OS/2 e-Zine! - Electronic "magazine" of interest to OS/2 readers http://www.teamos2.org/pharmacy/WarpPharmacy.html OS/2 Warp Pharmacy (Practical hints and tips for OS/2 users) http://www.indelible-blue.com/ib/ Indelible Blue (online!) http://www.os2bbs.com Pete Norloff's OS/2 SHAREWARE BBS (includes the SIG's home page!) SIG OFFICERS The SIG officers (and their electronic mail addresses) are: Chair, Donna Walker (dwalker@share.org) Vice Chair (Maryland), Patrick Zilliacus (patrick.zilliacus@mix.cpcug.org) Vice Chair (Virginia), Jim McConnell (jmmcconell@knight-hub.com) Training Director, Luis Garcia (lgarcia@census.gov) DIRECTIONS TO THE APRIL MEETING: (a) Via Capital Beltway, from Prince George's and Montgomery Counties and most of Northern Virginia: Take Beltway to Exit 22, Baltimore Washington Parkway (take North exit, towards Baltimore). Follow Parkway past Laurel and Fort Meade to the Maryland 176 (Dorsey Road) East exit. ==> You will encounter some clearly-marked detours in this area because of construction of the new Maryland 100 freeway. <== Follow signs marked Detour East 176, and pass through six traffic signals. One of these six is a flashing fire station signal. Turn right at the sixth signal, Connelley Drive, and quckly left onto Transport Drive. The first brick building on your left is the Statewide Operations Center. (b) Alternate Route to (a). Take Beltway to I-95 North (Exit 27, toward Baltimore). Follow I-95 to Exit 43, Maryland 100 (Glen Burnie). This section of Maryland 100 ends very quickly - take first exit you reach (U.S. 1 South). Go a short distance on U.S. 1 to the first signal, which is Maryland 176, and turn left. Follow 176 about two miles to Baltimore Washington Parkway interchange, and continue straight ahead. Follow signs marked Detour East 176, and pass through six traffic signals. One of these six is a flashing fire station signal. Turn right at the sixth signal, Connelley Drive, and quckly left onto Transport Drive. The first brick building on your left is the Statewide Operations Center. (c) From Downtown Washington, D.C.: Take New York Avenue, N.E. (U.S. 50) east from downtown, past the Washington Times building - keep in the left lane, but be prepared to stop abruptly. At the "split" in the road, follow the left fork labelled "Baltimore." This puts you on the Baltimore Washington Parkway. NOTE THAT THE SOUTHERN SECTIONS OF THE PARKWAY (INSIDE THE WASHINGTON BELTWAY) ARE UNDER CONSTRUCTION - IF YOU ENTER THE PARKWAY AFTER 7:00 P.M., IT IS LIKELY THAT YOU WILL ENCOUNTER LANE CLOSURES AND EXTENSIVE TRAFFIC CONGESTION. Follow Parkway past Laurel and Fort Meade to the Maryland 176 (Dorsey Road) East exit. ==> You will encounter some clearly-marked detours in this area because of construction of the new Maryland 100 freeway. <== Follow signs marked Detour East 176, and pass through six traffic signals. One of these six is a flashing fire station signal. Turn right at the sixth signal, Connelley Drive, and quckly left onto Transport Drive. The first brick building on your left is the Statewide Operations Center. (d) From Annapolis, Maryland: Take U.S. 50 west towards Washington/Baltimore a >short< distance to I-97 North (toward Baltimore). Follow I-97 north to Exit 14B (Maryland 176 West). Take Maryland 176 past four traffic signals. The fifth is Connelley Drive - turn left. Then a quick right onto Transport Drive to first building on keft. (e) From Baltimore, Maryland: Take S. Russell Street south, away from Downtown. This becomes the Baltimore Washington Parkway. Take Parkway south to Naryland 176 East (Dorsey Road). Follow signs marked Detour East 176, and pass through six traffic signals. One of these six is a flashing fire station signal. Turn right at the sixth signal, Connelley Drive, and quckly left onto Transport Drive. The first brick building on your left is the Statewide Operations Center. ** Donna Walker ** Chair, OS/2 SIG, CPCUG ** dwalker@share.org (or jmpd82a@prodigy.com) ** 703.876.4527 (office) ** 703.968.5738 (home (metro), until 11 p.m. any evening) ** 703.378.5895 (home (no. VA), until 11 p.m. any evening) ** 703.502.0673 (fax)