For most people, OS/2 is long dead. But a core group of users continue to use OS/2 and good news for remaining OS/2 users comes in the form of eComStation.
eComStation comes from Serenity Systems, founded by Bob St. John, a long time OS/2 advocate who was referred to by many Stardock people as "The invisible hand of OS/2". He was one of those people at IBM who quietly and with little credit helped OS/2 supporters, ISVs and IBM itself get their acts together.
For instance, if you purchased Star Emperor, there was an AVI on it that previews Object Desktop for OS/2 and Avarice. Bob St. John, back in 1995, created that AVI. In 1995 Bob St. John quietly helped Stardock by giving us a free back cover advertisement in Personal Systems for the then brand new OS/2 Essentials. He has been one of those quiet heroes of OS/2 that most people didn't know about until recently.
At this point in OS/2' lifespan, OS/2 users wanted the best person to help OS/2, Bob St. John would be the one. The home page for eComStation is:
http://www.ecomstation.com/
It's scheduled for release shortly. Putting together an updated OS/2 client is a massive undertaking, one that Serenity has been honest enough to let users be kept up to date on all the workings of getting software and updates from IBM which tends to move at a glacial pace. A quick visit to eComStation.com makes it apparent just how many thousands of OS/2 users are already on board to try to make a new life for the operating system that was always years ahead of its time.

A Download Manager will use SWING GUI and work with minimal requested Java 1.1.3. A program will be distributed as Shareware with a fee about 20 USD. Is anyone interested this project? Please write us your opinions and suggestions. EMail: download@defgroup.com

The Warpstock Board of Directors and Warpstock 2001 Event Team are pleased to announce that registrations for both attendees and exhibitors are now being accepted at the Warpstock website. Individuals can also register for the Saturday night social event.
The fifth annual Warpstock event, which will be held October 6-8 in Toronto, promises to be the biggest and best OS/2  event ever. The event will feature six tracks of presentations, demos, and seminars. Event organizers have worked hard this year to expand the event to three days while continuing to hold registration cost to a minimum. Payment can be made in one of three ways, check, credit card, or direct bank transfer. Checks, accompanied by an order form, should be mailed. The address and the form are available on the web site. Credit card payments and direct bank transfers are handled online, using the PayPal system.
PayPal is a free, online service that lets you make payments to other PayPal users using either your credit card or a direct bank transfer. By using PayPal, Warpstock can accept credit card payments more cheaply than with other providers. The only drawback is that you need to become a PayPal member in order make a PayPal payment. Details can be found on the PayPal web site.
To register for Warpstock 2001, go to http://www.warpstock.org/2001/registration/registration.html. If you have any questions, please email CustomerService@warpstock.org. The Warpstock Board of Directors and the Warpstock 2001 Event Team look forward to welcoming the OS/2 community to Toronto for the greatest Warpstock experience ever.
The 5th annual Warpstock conference will be held October 6-8, 2001, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is produced by Warpstock, Inc., a North Carolina non-profit corporation. The Warpstock annual conference is a gathering of OS/2 users, developers, and vendors from around the world for the purpose of education and advocacy. More information is available at the mirror site.

There is a NETBIOS LAN/DOS session bug in MCP, eCS, and, under certain circumstances, in Warp 4 FP 15. The effect of this bug is to raise the chance of data corruption for people using DOS applications on an OS/2 network to 'almost certain'.
IBM has now successfully reproduced the bug. I have been informed that this bug will =not= be addressed in the upcoming release of fixpack 1 for MCP.
Since this problem can impact many, [and since I have been receiving many questions on it since reporting it], I have set up a web page with detailed information on the bug. The web page also contains information on subscribing to a mailing list to discuss the bug and coordinate efforts to develop some sort of workaround until and if IBM fixes the
problem.

OpenSource DVD and MPEG tools for Linux, BeOS, FreeBSD, MacOS X, QNX, Solaris, Windows
VideoLAN is a project of students from the École Centrale Paris. Its main goals are MPEG and DVD playing and broadcasting on the campus, but it also features a standalone multimedia player that can read DVDs and MPEG files. It will also eventually support streams from a satellite or from an MPEG2 compression card. VideoLAN is free software, and is released under the GNU General Public License(...)

Quesa is a high level 3D graphics library, released as Open Source under the LGPL, which offers binary and source level compatibility with Apple's QuickDraw 3D API. Quesa does not contain any Apple source code, and was developed without access to Apple's QD3D implementation.
QD3D supports both retained and immediate mode rendering, an extensible file format, plug-in renderers, a wide range of high level geometries, hierarchical models, and a consistent and object-orientated API.
Quesa can sit on top other lower-level APIs (such as OpenGL or Direct3D), and provide the 'scene graph' level of organisation that these APIs typically lack.

RSJ is providing Serenity Systems with a trial version of the CD Writer for OS/2. The trial
software runs for 30 days ... and here's the cool part. After the 30 days, users will still be able to burn "eCS Demo CDs" for their use. *And*, RSJ is providing eCS users with promotional pricing until October 1!

On February 20, 2001, Dan Casey, OS/2 advocate and president of Warpstock, passed away. In his memory, the Warpstock Committee has donated $1,000 to Edelweiss House, an organization that helps homeless children.
The mission of Edelweiss House is to provide a family home life for abandoned and homeless children. This goal will be accomplished by construction of homes in the Indianapolis area, where a married couple will head each home and care for several of the children. By providing a wholesome family environment, the children will receive the love, care, and education they deserve.
Dan was co-owner and vice president of sales of Kool Vent, a family-owned business in the home construction industry. Dan believed strongly in the mission of Edelweiss House and was looking forward to seeing the construction of the first home.
Dan will always be remembered by family, friends, and OS/2 users around the world. The Warpstock Committee hopes that this donation will one day help save the life of a child, and we invite you to also contribute. For more information, please visit the Edelweiss House web site at http://www.edelweisshouse.org/
The 5th annual Warpstock conference will be held October 6-8, 2001, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and is produced by Warpstock, Inc., a North Carolina non-profit corporation. The Warpstock annual conference is a gathering of OS/2 users, developers, and vendors from around the world for the purpose of education and advocacy.
More information is available at the Warpstock 2001 web site

The Warpstock 2001 Event Team is pleased to announce that the tradition of a Saturday Night Social Event will continue at Warpstock 2001. This event is your opportunity to put the work of the day behind you and enjoy a fabulous dinner buffet with a desert buffet table. Dieters need not attend (just kidding)! And after your palette is satisfied, you can enjoy a theatrical production over your after-dinner coffee.
Guests will be picked up at the Warpstock hotel and take a 10-minute bus ride to the Stage West Theatre in Mississauga. Dinner will be served in the theater, and afterwards the guests will enjoy a professional theatrical production of Alan Ayckbourn's hit British comedy, "Things We Do For Love". After the show, the bus will return everyone back to the hotel, just in time to get enough sleep before Sunday's morning sessions.
In "Things We Do For Love", the cross-section of a Victorian house has been divided into three flats. The owner, a fastidious and elegant executive named Barbara, contentedly occupies the ordered, male-free ground floor. The basement ceiling can be seen, and this is where Gilbert, a boorish postman and handyman, is painting a nude study of his landlady. Barbara is letting her friend Nikki and her fiancÚ use the upstairs flat, even though she has taken an instant dislike to him. Ever life's victim, Nikki is destined to suffer yet again when Barbara succumbs to an unexpected and violent passion.
The London Guardian says, "Handles a potentially tragic theme with a rueful comic zest. This is a Private Lives for the nineties." ("Private Lives" was a British TV series).
Stage West does have certain dress restrictions. They request dress shirts, dress slacks or skirts. No jeans, shorts, sweatsuits or running shoes are allowed. Dress slacks and a golf shirt are considered acceptable, but a more stylish outfit is recommended. After all, you wouldn't want to be confused with a Linux user, would you?
You can find additional information about Stage West, Mississauga and their productions by visiting their website at http://www.stagewest.com
You can enjoy all this and the company of fellow OS/2 enthusiasts by reserving your ticket(s) for the Saturday Night Social Event at only $50 USD each. Tickets will soon be available for purchase on the Warpstock web site.
A limited number of seats are available, so book early. Final booking of seats must be made by September 15, 2001, so don't delay!
The 5th annual Warpstock conference will be held October 6-8, 2001, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is produced by Warpstock, Inc., a North Carolina non-profit corporation. The Warpstock annual conference is a gathering of OS/2 users, developers, and vendors from around the world for the purpose of education and advocacy. More information is
available at the Warpstock 2001 website.