PC World Komputer 1995 November/PCWK1195.iso/inne/podstawy/os2/nakladki/pc2v190.exe/PC2.FAQ

Text File | 1995-05-01 | 42KB | 833 lines

******************************************************************************
                            Frequently Asked Questions

                   PC/2 - Program Commander/2 Version 1.90 for
                      IBM OS/2 2.x, 3.x Presentation Manager
                      Copyright (C) by Roman Stangl May, 1995

                               Version 1.90 Draft
******************************************************************************

 1.) How can I configure PC/2 to display the Popup Menu on the Desktop, using
     a Mouse Button 1 singleclick instead of the default doubleclick?

     First, you may select the Configure Desktop dialog on the Popup Menu to
     select the type of default mouse click action.  This information is
     written to the PC2.INI profile.
     Second, use the commandline option "-SingleClick" or "/SingleClick" to
     overwrite the default behavior read from PC2.INI. If you run PC/2
     as a WPS replacement, you can't use any commandline option, since
     OS/2 seems to dislike commandline options on programs run as the WPS.
     However, this doesn't prevent you from setting the default behavior using
     the Configure Desktop dialog.

 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
     such as EPM.EXE to change all " C: " occurrences to " H: " in the
     profile.
     The profile is named PC2.CFG by default.

 3.) How do I add DOS Settings correctly?

     If you wish to do this using your text editor, ensure you use the
     exact same spelling as found in the settings of a typical DOS
     program. They have usually ON/OFF or numbers as possible
     selections. For ON/OFF, you add =1 or =0 to the setting, e.g.
     HW_TIMER=1. For numbers, add =xxxx, e.g. EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT=1024 or
     DOS_VERSION=DOSPROG.EXE,5,0,255. But the really easy way to do this
     is to use the standard DOS Settings dialog, which is displayed when
     you click on the DOS Settings pushbutton.

 4.) How can I add batch files?

     Batch files aren't executable files, so they need a command
     processor to interpret them. Therefore, you have to select a
     command processor, (e.g. CMD.EXE) and add /C filename.bat or /C
     filename.cmd to the parameters entry field. You may wish 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 to the
     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, e.g. at a command prompt you
     would type DIR "[d]\OS!2 2.0 Desktop\*" /s to list all files of the
     Desktop directory. The same is true for PC/2, e.g. if you want to start
     a batchfile that conforms to HPFS-filename conventions, you may create
     an entry like this : (Note: Replace [d] with a drive letter, e.g. E: )
        Program Title:      HPFS-Test
        Path and Filename:  [d]\OS!2 2.0 Desktop\Prompts\Command Processor.exe
        Working Directory:  [d]\OS!2 User Applications
        Parameters:         /C ""[d]\OS!2 2.0 Desktop\Run Me.cmd""
     Note: Passing HPFS-filenames to command processors may require two
     double-quotes (e.g. CMD.EXE does). Also take a look at the help pages
     for CMD.EXE to get more details. Open up an OS/2 command line prompt, and
     enter: help cmd.exe - this should get you to the right section.

 6.) How do I start a full-screen WIN-OS2 session?

     Create a full-screen DOS command prompt that uses WINOS2.COM as the
     executable's name. (e.g. [d]\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2\WINOS2.COM, where [d] is the
     drive letter you installed WIN-OS2 onto, e.g. C: ). Then add the required
     DOS Settings (e.g. the following settings greatly improve performance on
     a 8514/A adapter (and probably on other adapters too):
        VIDEO_8514_XGA_IOTRAP=0
        VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION=0
        VIDEO_SWITCH_NOTIFICATION=1
        XMS=64
        EMS=0
        DPMI=4 (or more than 4, if you run a lot of Win apps)
        IDLE_SECONDS=2
        IDLE_SENSITIVITY=100
        HW_ROM_TO_RAM=1
     Thanks to Timothy Sipples for them!

 7.) How do I control what mode and session type a Windows application runs
     in?

     Just enter the application's data and select the mode the seamless
     WIN-OS2 session should run. This includes realmode, standard or
     enhanced 386 mode, both in separate sessions or in a common VDM.

 8.) How do I start a VDM from an image?

     First create the image, then create an entry of a fullscreen 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 want to
     start. Caution! On OS/2 2.0 (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 as item 8.) says, only adjust the DOS settings to:
        DOS_STARTUP_DRIVE=A:
     Caution! On OS/2 2.0 (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 WorkPlace Shell (this saves
     up to 4 MB memory!) and they can't click with button 2 to get the WPS
     Popup Menu, from where shutdown is usually selected. So, it is provided
     on PC/2's Popup Menu. PC/2 requests OS/2 to clear all file buffers. After
     all disk activity has been stopped, it is safe to power off your system.
     PC/2 don't close the programs, but after the disk activity has stopped,
     all processes are frozen (you can not switch to or select programs
     anymore).

     If you set up "Normal Shutdown" in the PC/2 Desktop Menu, when you click
     Shutdown OS/2 on the PC/2 Popup Menu, PC/2 will act just as the WPS does,
     when doing a normal shutdown.  In other words, apps are notified they are
     about to be shut down, and, depending on the application, you may get
     several questions asking something to the effect "Do you really want to
     do this?"

11.) How do I add commandline parameters at runtime?

     E.g. assume you created a Menuentry that starts 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 for the WPS?

     First, install PC/2 in the normal way. Second, edit your CONFIG.SYS to
     replace the statement (Note: substitute your drive name instead of
     [d], e.g. C: ):
        SET RUNWORKPLACE=[d]\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
     to
        REM * SET RUNWORKPLACE=[d]\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
        SET RUNWORKPLACE=[d]\path\PC2.EXE
     or
        REM * SET RUNWORKPLACE=[d]\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
        SET RUNWORKPLACE=\path\PC2.EXE

     Where [d]\path is the drive and path (e.g. \PMAPPS\PC2 on drive C: )
     where you installed PC/2. (The second method can be used to add
     PC/2 as the Workplace process of a maintenance partition, e.g.
     created by the BOOTOS2 package). Second, ensure that all PC/2
     *.DLLs are in the directory PC/2 is running from, or in a path
     pointed to by the LIBPATH environment variable in your CONFIG.SYS.

     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 and objects.

     Not using the WPS saves memory and reduces boot time!

     Of course, you can also start the WPS later, either by starting
     PMSHELL.EXE from a command prompt or from a PMSHELL Menuitem of PC/2.
     You can follow the WPS initialization by heavy disk access and buildup
     of your Desktop with objects. To use the Popup Menu on the newly started
     WPS just wait a few seconds until PC/2 knows about this new window.
     PC/2 displays the Window List on PM too, just as the WPS does by
     clicking mouse buttons 1 and 2 together.

13.) How do I add WPS Objects to start them 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 [d]\OS2\OS2_20.RC (where [d] is the
     drive you installed OS/2 onto, e.g. C: ).
     Alternatively, you may use WPS 2 PC/2 to extract the Object ID from
     WPS Objects not being Folders or Program Objects, when available.
     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.
     Note that this function is not supported when PC/2 is used as the
     replacement for the WPS, as it is the WPS that services starting
     the Object ID's.

14.) How do I use Drag'n Drop?

     In addition to the standard file dialog, you may use Drag'n Drop to
     add applications in the Program Installation dialog. E.g. you may
     use a drive object, select one (only 1!) application, and then drag
     it into the dialog and drop it onto any area that accepts it (any area
     that isn't covered by text, buttons, entryfields,...).
     You can also drag one WPS Folder Object onto the first page of the
     Program Installation dialog, to open it when selecting it from the
     Popup Menu.
     PC/2 will try to determine the type of the application you added
     automatically (programs or folders), but you can still change it.

15.) How can I add WPS Objects, and what WPS Object classes are allowed?

     The simplest way is to use WPS 2 PC/2. Just drag the WPS Objects you
     want to add to PC/2's Popup Menu, onto the WPS *icon* of WPS 2 PC/2
     (Not the open WPS 2 PC/2 application).
     Then open the WPS 2 PC/2 application window by clicking on the icon
     mentioned before. Now drag the status bitmap (the full suitcase) from
     WPS 2 PC/2 onto the Setup dialog of PC/2, and voila, for each WPS
     Object extracted, a new menuentry is created within PC/2's Popup Menu.
     WPS 2 PC/2 can extract data from WPS Objects of classes WPProgram,
     WPFolder, any WPS Object that has an Object ID defined, or WPShadow
     Objects of the classes mentioned previously.
     E.g. you can't extract your WPS Printer Object, or a Drive Object,
     unless an Object ID is assigned to these Objects.
     Note: When running PC/2 as a replacement shell for the WPS, these
     functions are inoperative, as they require the WPS to service them.

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 2.1 GA, 2.11 GA, and WARP GA, but I would
     expect it to work under OS/2 2.0 and any Service Level too.
     Under OS/2 WARP for Windows, using a tiled background bitmap hangs OS/2
     solidly, requiring a reboot.
     Under OS/2 WARP Fullpack, using a tiled background bitmap just hangs
     PC/2, so in this case, just use CTRL+ESC to terminate PC/2. A defect
     (PMR 4X472) has been opened against OS/2 WARP, so a future CSD
     (Corrective Service Diskette) will hopefully repair this defect.
     This bug is not a PC/2 problem, since selecting a tiled background
     bitmap works correctly under OS/2 2.x.

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.
     To temporarily suspend the Sliding feature, just hold down the SHIFT key
     while moving the mouse.

19.) How does the sliding Focus work?

     For all pointer movements, OS/2 generates 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 message originating
     window active.
     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 this
     option.
     Caution! Sliding Focus does not work well, when running seamless
     WIN-OS2 sessions. To temporarily suspend Sliding, just hold down the
     SHIFT key while moving the mouse.

20.) How do I use the enabled Virtual Desktop?

     You may know that 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.
     You may click on any Virtual Desktop on the overview Window to
     immediately switch to that Virtual Desktop.

21.) How does the Virtual Desktop work?

     First, for all windows, OS/2 tracks their coordinates in data structures.
     PC/2 queries and adjusts them according to the mouse movements the
     user makes. For instance, if the mouse pointer is over column 0 on the
     screen, PC/2 adds to the x-position of all windows for example 50 % of
     the x-dimension of the screen. The windows appear to move rightward (out
     of the display) because the display SHIFTs 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. For instance, you can enter
     a position of -200 in X, which would position the application to the left
     of your Physical Desktop.  All coordinates are in relation to your
     Physical Desktop.  In other words, an x setting of -1 would position your
     application 1 pixel (out of a possible 640 in VGA) to the left off of your
     Physical Desktop.

     PC/2 forces the window to the position you entered, however the
     application may determine its size itself. To allow PC/2 to find the
     window, ensure that you enter the applications Window List entry or
     titlebar text to the Window Name entryfield on the Hotkey notebook page
     of the Program Installation dialog. You don't need to enter the complete
     Window List or titlebar text, just any substring that matches with the
     text.
     *However*, you must ensure that this substring matches *only* with the
     application you want. Results are unpredictable if multiple applications
     contain the same substring.

     Some applications are "stubborn", that is, no matter what you do to
     specify your xy coordinate position for the application, it refuses to
     obey, and starts where it wishes.  For instance, a DOS windowed session
     that changes from 80x25 line mode to 80x28 line mode during startup
     causes just such a condition.


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 and OS/2 WARP  use the name
     "Desktop" instead, if you install it over a newly formatted system.

     OS/2 2.1 and WARP may use a different name, if you install it over a
     previous OS/2 system, so please read the README file provided with your
     version of OS/2 carefully.

     You may use the Notebook that appears after clicking mouse button 2 on
     the WPS at page Desktop-Settings to change the Desktop's name.
     Your Desktop may have a name translated to your national language.

24.) What's the name of the Window List?

     The Window List (known as Task List in OS/2 1.x) is just named
     "Window List". It may have a name translated to your national
     language.

25.) What about seamless WIN-OS2 support, without a corresponding WPS object?

     PC/2 allows you to start seamless WIN-OS2 sessions, as separate sessions
     or in a common VDM. This means, if you start a Windows application in a
     separate session, a complete copy of the WIN-OS2 environment will come up.
     This wastes memory, so I suggest to start Windows applications into a
     common VDM whenever possible.

     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 successfully start WIN-OS2 sessions in
     standard mode. 386 enhanced mode is not supported by OS/2, and real mode
     starts to load, but doesn't complete successfully for unknown reasons.
     Under OS/2 2.1 and WARP, real mode is not supported, so you can only start
     Standard mode and 386 Enhanced mode sessions.

26.) How many applications can I start within a seamless WIN-OS2 session?

     For a separate 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).

     For separate sessions, the limit is determined by your system
     configuration (e.g. how much memory you have in your kingdom. <smile> ).

27.) How do I define a program's priority?

     Just select the last notebook page from the Program Installation dialog.
     Warning - changing a program's priority may have severe impacts on your
     system's performance, giving all CPU time to the application.

     You may set a tape backup or image conversion program to a lower priority
     or a real-time data acquisition to a higher priority.

     For DOS sessions (and WIN-OS2 sessions are DOS sessions), the priority
     can't be changed, because this would lock PM for unknown reasons.

     You can't change the priority of WPS Object either, because the WPS
     actually starts them after a request from PC/2.

     On OS/2 Warp, you can adjust the priority of DOS sessions via the DOS
     Settings dialog, in the Settings Notebook.

28.) How do I define a Hotkey to switch to a session?

     Just select notebook page 4 from the Program Installation dialog.
     You may define any key from the pool keys 0 to 9 and A to Z combined with
     either with the CTRL or the ALT key. Once a Hotkey is defined for an
     application, it is no more available for other sessions. You may define
     Hotkeys for 72 different sessions as the maximum.

     If PC/2 detects that the user pressed a Hotkey and the application the
     Hotkey is defined for is not running, PC/2 launches the application,
     otherwise, PC/2 will jump to the application already running.

     You may temporarily suspend the Hotkey feature by pressing and holding
     the SHIFT key while pressing the Hotkey. PC/2 will then ignore the
     Hotkey and pass it over to the application that currently has the focus.

29.) How does the Hotkey feature work?

     PC/2 knows which Hotkeys are used if you have defined them. However, PC/2
     also needs to know at least a part of the application's titlebar text or
     Window List entry to switch to, so you have to fill in the entryfield
     "Window Name: " (on the Hotkey notebook page) with the session's titlebar
     text or Window List entry.

     For a session's Window Name either use part of the string that appears
     in the session's titlebar, or part of the string that appears in the
     Window List for this session.  This is most important that you follow
     this procedure, otherwise results become unpredictable.

     If you press the Hotkey for a session, PC/2 searches all titlebars
     and the Window List for the text from the "Window Name" entry and
     switches to that session when a match was found.
     PC/2 not only switches to the session the Hotkey is defined for, but
     also switches to the Virtual Desktop the session resides on.
     If neither the Window Name can be found on any window's titlebar nor
     in the Window List, PC/2 assumes the application is not running and
     launches it. This is why it is important that you ensure your entry in
     the "Window Name" entryfield accurately relates to the titlebar name of
     the running session's Window List entry.

     You may temporarily suspend Hotkey detection, if you press the SHIFT key
     simultaneously with the Hotkey. PC/2 then will *not* steal the Hotkey,
     but passes it on the the window that had the focus while the keypress.

30.) Why should I use the Hotkey feature?

     Well, you don't need to use it, but you may find it very useful to
     quickly switch to a certain session, for example a host terminal
     emulator and than switch back to a compiling environment residing
     on different Virtual Desktops.

31.) I have defined some Hotkeys - now these keys are not available on other
     sessions any more!

     Once you have defined a Hotkey, this Hotkey will be "seen" by PC/2
     when it is pressed, because PC/2 "steals" them, before the application,
     the key was pressed in, gets the notification for that key. Hotkeys are
     detected systemwide, unless you check the option "No systemwide Hotkeys".

     PC/2 will not see the Hotkey, if this Hotkey is the same as a accelerator
     key, because PM translates character keys into accelerators before PC/2
     has the chance to detect it. See 52.) for an explanation of accelerators.

     For example, the EPM editor has defined an accelerator key for CTRL+U,
     to invoke its undo function. You can define CTRL+U as a Hotkey for your
     terminal emulator, but PC/2 will never see this key. To allow PC/2 to
     see CTRL+U then, you have to switch the focus to a window that has no
     accelerator defined for this key, e.g. the Window List.

32.) I switched to another window - now the Hotkey feature doesn't work
     anymore!

     The window you switched to has probably defined an accelerator key, that
     matches the Hotkey (see also 52.), the Hotkey can't be seen by PC/2 then.
     See 31.) for more information.

33.) I defined a Hotkey but the wrong window is activated!

     You have probably defined a Hotkey for an application and have
     inadvertantly started more than one copy of this same application. PC/2
     only switches to the first application window, and ignores all other
     sessions containing copies of the same hotkeyed application.

     Be sure that you don't start more than one instance of a session a
     Hotkey is defined for. A session is a PM, windowed OS/2 or DOS
     application that displays at least one window on PM (Presentation
     Manager).

34.) How to I define a Hotkey for a certain window (e.g. Drive C object)
     even if it wasn't started from PC/2?

     Assume that you have opened the Drive C - Tree View object from the
     OS/2 System->Drives object of the WPS and you want to define ALT+C
     as its Hotkey.
     Create a new menuentry and skip to the Hotkey notebook page of the
     Program Installation dialog. Enable the Hotkey feature and select
     ALT+C as the Hotkey.
     Then select the entry of the Drive C object from the Current Window
     List MLE and doubleclick on it. The selected entry will also be
     filled into the entryfield Window Name. Now save the changes and
     voila, you can now use the newly defined Hotkey.

     As the Drive objects are WPS Objects too, Drive objects can only be
     opened while the WPS is running.

35.) Do I need to completely fill in the Program Installation dialog to
     define a new Hotkey?

     No, you just need to fill in the Hotkey labeled notebook page. PC/2
     uses the text entered in the entryfield Window Name to compare with
     all windows' titlebars and Window List entries. If the text matches
     any of these entries, (or subset of the entry) the window the entry is
     defined for is activated.

     To use the Hotkey feature, just ensure that the text entered in the
     entryfield Window Name is part of any window's titlebar or Window List
     entry.

36.) I have 2 OS/2 windows with the same name. Will the Hotkey work?

     Yes, but only for the first window whose titlebar or Window List entry
     matches to the Menuitem Window Name. You have to ensure a unique title
     for a window to allow PC/2 to exactly identify a window and activate it
     through the Hotkey function.

37.) How do I access the Window List on PM?

     If you are positioned over the PM with the mouse pointer, just press
     and hold down a mouse button and then click the other while not moving
     the mouse pointer. The Window List will appear with the mouse pointer
     in center (when the complete Window List can displayed then).
     The PM is the bottommost window which you can see as your Desktop's
     background, if either you don't run the WPS or you moved the WPS to
     an other Virtual Desktop.

     Of course pressing CTRL+ESC works too.

38.) What is the feature "Button 2 titlebar click to set window to
     bottom" useful for?

     Even if you don't use the Virtual Desktop feature, you may find
     that sometimes you like to switch to a window which is under the
     currently active one, but you don't want to move or minimize the
     active one to get the other window to the top. If this option is
     on, it enables you to just click mouse button 2 on the active
     window's titlebar to push this window to the bottom. The window
     previously behind the active window now becomes the topmost window.
     Note that with this function enabled, you can't activate window
     movement with mouse button 2 anymore - however you can still
     accomplish this using mouse button 1.

     Pressing the CTRL key while clicking on the titlebar only moves the
     window to bottom; pressing the Alt key activates the default action
     of the titlebar (usually activating the move window tracking frame).

     Therefore, the CTRL and Alt key may be temporarily used to suspend
     the default PC/2 behavior.

39.) Can a Hotkey defined for PC/2 itself?

     Yes, just enter PC/2 as the string to match on the Hotkey notebook
     page in the Program Installation dialog and assign a Hotkey e.g.
     ALT+P.

40.) When switching to a Virtual Desktop with a Hotkey, how is the window
     aligned?

     PC/2 moves the Desktop on the Virtual Desktop at the rate you defined
     with the Virtual Desktop Scrolling scrollbar on Desktop Setup dialog.
     The movement stops either when the middle point of a window becomes
     visible on the screen the first time, or a surrounding edge was hit.
     If you set the Virtual Desktop Scrolling to 100 % you will probably see
     the best results.

41.) How do I activate and use the PC/2 Spooler Control Window?

     To be able to select the PC/2 Spooler, just add a the PC/2 Spooler via
     the Control Addition dialog to your Popup Menu. Then select the newly
     created item to show the PC/2 Spooler.
     The PC/2 Spooler is a container where you can manipulate the printer
     queues and print jobs of your local machine by pressing mouse button 2
     on any row you want to apply an action. A Popup Menu occurs, which you
     can use to select actions.

     Note that when running PC/2 as the WPS replacement, the PC/2 Spooler
     Control Window is the only way you can control your queues and jobs.
     Even more, without the PC/2 Spooler Control Window, the OS/2 spooler
     would not even be started!

42.) Why does the Overview Window sometimes not correspond to the real Desktop
     application mix?

     The Overview Window does its updating by event triggering.

     This means that an event (creating, destroying, sizing or moving a
     window) is the prerequisite for all windows available on the Desktop to
     get shown on the Overview Window.

     For example, because many events are generated when a Window is created,
     PC/2 ignores all events during working on the first event.
     So when PC/2 is drawing a window on the Overview Window as a result of a
     window creation, and another window is created (but doesn't trigger any
     action by PC/2 because PC/2 is already busy with the previous event) it
     will not be displayed on the Overview Window.

     To compensate for this, PC/2 redraws all windows again, when another
     event is triggered. However, even then, there is a low possibility that
     a window doesn't get recognized by PC/2.

     When the system is idle, no event triggers PC/2 actions and PC/2 is
     therefore idle too.

     PC/2 versions previous to 1.80 took another approach. They always drew
     the windows available, loading the CPU to a permanent 15 % even when
     the system was doing nothing. I am happy to say, this is no longer the
     case.

43.) I have configured a Popup Menu, but always get the Setup dialog when
     clicking on the Desktop.

     To display the configured Popup Menu, the Menu *must* contain the entry
     "Configure Desktop", otherwise, the Setup dialog will be displayed.

     To add the menuentry "Configure Desktop", select the pushbutton
     "Add Control" from the Setup dialog. Then select "Configure Popup Menu
     Settings" to add the entry "Configure Desktop" to your Popup Menu.
     Now you will get the Popup Menu when clicking mouse button 1 on the
     Desktop.

44.) How can I change the default fonts used by PC/2?

     You can change the font of the Popup Menu, the Spooler Window and the
     Overview window by simply dragging a font from the font palette:

     +) to change the Popup Menu's font, drop the font onto the Smarticonbar
        on PC/2's Overview Window
     +) to change the Spooler Window Container's font, drop the font onto the
        container
     +) to change the Overview's Window font, drop the font onto the Overview
        Window (all fonts will be accepted, though some fonts produce not
        exactly the requested result).

45.) What is the addon WPS 2 PC/2 used for?

     WPS 2 PC/2 is a WPS Object, residing in WPS2PC2.DLL. This DLL must reside
     in a directory that is accessible through the LIBPATH environment
     variable in your CONFIG.SYS.

     When WPS 2 PC/2 is installed and registered to the WPS, you can extract
     settings from WPS Program and Folder objects to be used within PC/2's
     Popup Menu.

     To extract the data from WPS Objects, just select the and drag them
     over to WPS 2 PC/2's closed icon on your Desktop, and drop them to let
     WPS 2 PC/2 extract their contents.

     To add extracted WPS Object data to PC/2's Popup Menu, open the
     WPS 2 PC/2 Object and PC/2's Setup dialog, and drag the Status bitmap
     (Full suitcase) from WPS 2 PC/2's window onto the Submenu/Program
     Configuration listbox on PC/2's Setup dialog.

     Menuitems corresponding to the settings of the WPS Objects you extracted
     will be added at the bottom of the current level of the Popup Menu (you
     probably will notice that the listbox gets filled with the top-level
     WPS Objects converted to Popup Menu entries).
     From now on, you can use exactly the same settings of your WPS Objects
     from PC/2's Popup Menu without entering them twice (even DOS settings
     will be extracted).

46.) How can I open WPS Folder Objects from PC/2's Popup Menu?

     Just create a Program Menuitem by selecting Add Program from PC/2's
     Setup dialog. Then drag one WPS Folder Object on PC/2's Program
     Installation dialog (and replace the Program Title field for better
     readability) - that's all.

47.) What is the difference between the "slow" and "fast" version of PC/2.

     Beginning with version 1.90, PC/2 slightly changed the way how the
     Overview window is updated.

     Up to version 1.80, PC/2 used to updated the Overview window only on
     the screen, causing some flicker. This approach is called "slow" because
     it gives the best performance for video chipsets, that have a small
     performance of moving data from main memory to video memory (e.g. the
     8514/A adapter because of its IO-mapped design). This version is called
     PC2SLOW.EXE and can either be renamed to PC2.EXE or you change the
     settings of PC/2's WPS Object.

     Beginning with version 1.90, PC/2 defaults to draw most changes of
     the Overview window into memory first, and just copies it onto the
     screen, when the drawing has finished, eliminating most flicker.
     This approach is called "fast" because for modern video chipsets
     (e.g. XGA, S3) there is no performance impact of moving data from
     main memory to video memory. This version requires a slightly more
     memory).

48.) Why does an installation update of PC/2 not work with active CM/2?

     IBM Communication Manager/2 locks the DLL PC2HOOK.DLL when running,
     therefore you have to stop and shut down CM/2 prior to run an update of
     PC/2.
     This behavior of CM/2 is not expected and I can't explain it -
     but there are potentially more programs out having this behavior. So
     I suggest you shut down or not start applications prior to running an
     installation update of PC/2, if you experience problems installing PC/2.

49.) Why does selection of a tiled background bitmap hang OS/2 Warp 3.0?

     OS/2 WARP has a bug, when requesting display of a tiled background
     bitmap. It even behaves a little different between OS/2 WARP and OS/2
     WARP Fullpack. A defect (PMR 4X472) has been opened against OS/2 WARP,
     so a future CSD (Corrective Service Diskette) will hopefully repair this
     defect.
     This bug is not a PC/2 problem, since selecting a tiled background
     bitmap works correctly under OS/2 2.x.

     During beta test of OS/2 WARP Fullpack, I informed OS/2 development
     3 times about this bug (on an IBM internal forum, and via a note), but I
     have not yet heard back yet, in time for the cutoff date of this release.

50.) Do I have to change anything in CONFIG.SYS to run PC/2?

     No, PC/2 is so smart that it can locate all its files (the DLLs, the
     online HLP and configuration files) in the directory PC/2 was started
     from! This also holds true then using PC/2 as the WPS replacement.

     In contrast, many other programs require modifications in your CONFIG.SYS
     or that you copy some files in certain directories.

     Just WPS 2 PC/2 requires its DLL and HLP file in the directory \OS2\DLL
     and \OS2\HELP, because the WPS requires them in a path pointed to by the
     LIBPATH and HELP environment variables. Both files will be copied by the
     installation automatically.

51.) I have defined a Hotkey, but now my favorite program doesn't get this
     key!

     When you have defined a Hotkey, PC/2 "sees" that Hotkey when any PM
     window (PM programs, OS/2 and DOS windows) has the focus unless:

     *) a application has defined an accelerator for this Hotkey, then PC/2
        won't be able to detect it (see 52. for more information),

     or

     *) you have selected the checkbox "No systemwide Hotkeys" on the Desktop
        dialog notebook - using this option, PC/2 detects Hotkeys only when
        either PC/2, the Window List, or the WPS are the active tasks when
        pressing the Hotkey.

52.) What is referred as an *accelerator* key?

     An accelerator is a special OS/2 PM (Presentation Manager) resource, that,
     when pressed, informs the window having the focus not by its ASCII
     character code, but by a special message.

     As PC/2 *detects* only Hotkeys by their character code, not by any
     special message they may produced, PC/2 can only *see* a Hotkey, when
     the PM window having the focus when the Hotkey was pressed, does *not*
     have defined an accelerator key for this Hotkey.

     For example, the EPM editor has defined an accelerator key for ALT+S,
     to invoke its split line function. You can define ALT+S as a Hotkey to
     launch PMSEEK, but PC/2 will never see this key, when pressed having
     EPM as the focus window.
     To allow PC/2 to see ALT+S then, you have to switch the focus to a
     window that has no accelerator defined for this key, e.g. the Window
     List, PC/2, the WPS or PM itself.

53.) Which sequence is used by PC/2 when autostarting programs?

     PC/2 uses a recursive depth-first search, when searching the Popup Menu
     for applications marked to be autostarted. For example, assume your Popup
     Menu looks like the following graphics (tree view):

                           +----+     Px ... x'th program menuentry, not
                        +--| A2 |                 not having autostart flag
                        |  +----+                 set
                        |  | P1 |
                +----+  |  +----+     Sy ... y'th submenu menuentry
             +--| A1 |  |  | A3 |
             |  +----+  |  +----+     Az ... z'th program menuentry, having
             |  | S2 |--+                         autostartt flag set
     +----+  |  +----+     +----+
     | S1 !--+  | S3 |-----| P2 |
     +----+     +----+     +----+
     | A5 |                | P3 |
     +----+     +----+     +----+
     | S4 |-----| P4 |     | A4 |
     +----+     +----+     +----+
                | P5 |
                +----+
                | A6 |
                +----+

     \----/     \----/     \----/
      root      first      second
     level     submenu    submenu
                level      level

     Having above Popup Menu, invoking PC/2 would autostart applications in
     the following order:
     A1 --> A2 --> A3 --> A4 --> A5 --> A6

     To define a certain sequence for your applications to autostart, you have
     to position their menuentries according to above graphics.

54.) Are duplicate menuentries allowed?

     It is possible to have multiple menuentries for the same applications,
     but I *strongly* recommend creation of just *one* menuentry for a single
     application.
     PC/2 currently does *not* support a concept of "shadow menuentries",
     behaving similar to WPS Shadowobjects.

55.) What's the difference between the Program Title and Window Name?

     The Program Title is the text displayed for an application's menuentry in
     PC/2's Popup Menu. Some applications (e.g. OS/2 and DOS windows) even use
     this text in their titlebar, but mode applications (e.g. EPM) choose to
     set their titlebar text according to their own preferences.

     The Window Name is the text used by PC/2 to identify one certain PM
     window among all windows on PM. To identify a certain window, PC/2 uses
     the Window Name text and matches it with all windows on PM. A window is
     identified when the menuentry's Window Name matches either the window's
     titlebar *or* the window's Window List entry. The first window of all
     windows on PM which matches with the menuentry's Window Name is assumed
     as the window launched by this menuentry by PC/2.

     If you choose not to fill the Window Name entryfield, PC/2 just copies
     the contents of the Program Title entryfield into Window Name.

56.) How can I use a Hotkey that starts a program, each time the Hotkey is
     pressed instead of switching to the running instance?

     Just ensure that the program's Window Name entryfield contains a text,
     that never occurs on any window's titlebar *or* Window List entry.

     For example I prefer CTRL+O to start an OS/2 window each time I press
     CTRL+0. I do so be entering the following data for this OS/2 window:
        Program Title:      OS/2 Window
        Window Name:        HK OS/2 Window
     Under the assumption that now other window on PM contains the string
     "HK OS/2 Window", CTRL+0 will always start a new OS/2 window.

     Of course, if I for example would invoke EPM "HK OS/2 Window", then my
     OS/2 Window's Window Name "HK OS/2 Window" would be successfully matched
     with this EPM session when pressing CTRL+0, and the Hotkey would switch
     to this EPM session instead of starting another OS/2 window.

     Just ensure that it is very unlikely that any PM window contains the
     Window Name in its titlebar *or* Window List entry, to start a new
     instances of the program each time the Hotkey is pressed.

Also, please read the help panels.

Enjoy! Roman