Warpstock Europe 2013

Warpstock is an annual conference about OS/2 and the eComStation operating systems and related technologies. It is dedicated to information exchange, education and support of the OS; its audience are end-users, software developers and vendors. The conference offers seminars and workshops, has an exhibition area and there are plenty of opportunities for personal knowledge sharing.

Warpstock conferences are held in different parts of the world. The original Warpstock event is intended for users in North America, while Warpstock Europe is its European counterpart. In the past there have been Warpstock conferences in the Czech Republic for users in Eastern Europe. If you are interested in previous events check out the old Warpstock site.

Information

 * Date: Friday May 24 to Sunday May 26th of 2013
 * Location: Hostel in Heemskerk, the Netherlands.
 * Website: Official Web Site
 * Organizer:

Warpstock Europe 2013 - May 24-26, 2013
In 2013 the new edition of Warpstock Europe was held from Friday May 24 to Sunday May 26th at the Opens external link in new windowStayokay Hostel in Heemskerk, the Netherlands.

Tickets for the conference were only € 20,- (including VAT) per day and could be bought in advance at the Mensys website. For more information about the conference's location, speakers and sessions for this Warpstock, visit the links at the top of this page.

Presentations
With eComStation 2.2 a lot of new hardware has been supported. But some things are not working yet. Something as simple as the ACPI function keys fN F7 for example on a Thinkpad laptop does not work anymore with ACPI installed. Nvidia BIOS'es don't have wide screen support with Panorama. This and some other examples will be given. This presentation covers some of the things that look simple to...
 * ALL01 Why does ECS miss feature X?
 * David Azarewicz
 * Friday 15:15 Ridderzaal
 * Sunday 11:00 Ridderzaal
 * No presentation handouts available yet

David is one of the developers who have been working on eComStation device drivers for the last 2 years. A lot of the driver updates are done by David. He will give you an insight what he worked on and what other updates on device drivers you can expect. This covers ACPI, USB, video, audio and network drivers.
 * ALL02 ECS 2.2: new drivers and what's to come
 * David Azarewicz
 * Friday 11:00 Ridderzaal
 * Saturday 11:45 Ridderzaal
 * No presentation handouts available yet

In this session Mensys B.V. will briefly highlight some of the mayor achievements that have been made over the last 2 years since the release of eCS 2.1. Whats new in eCS 2.2 and what you can expect for eCS 3.0 of course!
 * ALL03 ECS 2.2 & beyond, update from Mensys
 * Roderick Klein, Joachim Benjamins
 * Friday 13:30 Ridderzaal
 * Saturday 10:15 Ridderzaal

David Azarewicz gave a presentation in 2012 at Warpstock in the United States. It turned out to be a great success to answer people any questions they had to install eCS on laptops and desktop systems. So if you have any questions or problems you can not get resolved to install eCS on your hardware, lets see i we can help you.
 * ALL04 Hands on Q&A
 * David Azarewicz
 * Friday 14:15 Geverszaal
 * Sunday 13:30 Geverszaal

Although Longnames have been around for quite a long time, though generally helpful they can sometimes cause problems and it is not always obvious where the problem came from. This presentation will discuss long names in OS/2, how they are stored, handled, potential problem areas, ways of correcting and avoiding problems and what tools are available to assist you.
 * APP01 Long filenames and what can go wrong
 * Keith Merrington
 * Friday 10:15 Ridderzaal
 * Saturday 15:15 Ridderzaal

Open Office has been "forked" and now lives on as Libre Office from Oracle.The Apache foundation took over Open Office. Shortly Open Office 3.4 will be released. To hear everything about the latests developments regarding Open Office visit the presentation from Yuri Dario,
 * APP02 Open Office
 * Yuri Dario
 * Sunday 11:45 Geverszaal
 * Saturday 11:45 Geverszaal

eComStation 2.1 shipped with Java 1.4.2. from Innotek. Thanks to the work from Bitwise GmbH we now have a current Java 6 on eCS 2.2 with browser plugins. This was also made possible by updating the ODIN runtime. While the impression may arise that Java is simple to port to eComStation, its not. Its a very complex and big component. That required a lot of man hours.If your interested to know more...
 * APP03 Java 6 and ODIN
 * Dmitriy Kuminov, Silvan Scherrer
 * Saturday 13:30 Ridderzaal
 * Sunday 14:15 Geverszaal

With eComStation 2.2 RPM is included as an optional item to be installed. Its the first time in the history of eComStation and OS/2 the platform ships with industry standard to distribute packages and updates! Also Yuri Dario will explain how the new Dropbox client works as a plugin for Netdrive.
 * APP04 Dropbox and RPM for eCS
 * Yuri Dario
 * Saturday 14:15 Ridderzaal
 * Sunday 10:15 Ridderzaal

The family of products such as the Firefox web browser and the Thunderbird email client have been ported to eComStation for years. However over the years some big needed maintenance has not been performed on the source code and the build environment. Currently Dmitriy from Bitwise GmbH is working on this. This big maintenance will make it possible to keep Firefox running on eComStation.
 * APP05 The future of Firefox on eCS
 * Dmitriy Kuminov
 * Friday 14:15 Ridderzaal
 * Saturday 11:00 Ridderzaal

FM2 was originally written by Mark Kimes. He has kindly allowed us to take over maintenance and support of FM/2 and to release the program under the GNU GPL license. Its now maintained by a group of volunteers and hosted on Netlabs.
 * APP06 FM/2: The Swiss army knife of filemanagers
 * Gregg Young
 * Sunday 11:00 Geverszaal
 * Saturday 15:15 Geverszaal

Recently EasySync (a synchronisation and backup program) was updated and improved. During this presentation the most noticeable improvements will be discussed and demonstrated. A live hands on of the program in which all those wishing to, can partake, rounding up with a brief discussion on future enhancements.
 * APP07 EasySync UPDATED
 * Keith Merrington
 * Saturday 11:00 Geverszaal
 * Friday 16:00 Ridderzaal

While Stevene Levine is not present at Warpstock. Steve Levine will be giving a presentation via Skye explaining what has been discovered recently about the Genmac NIC driver that should enable the community to support more network devices!. With this information we will be able to support more (wireless) network chipsets via the Genmac NIC driver then we currently support!
 * DEV01 Genmac debugging
 * Steven Levine
 * Friday 16:00 Geverszaal
 * Saturday 16:00 Geverszaal

Are you a developer ? Did you want to learn how to write programs with a graphical user interface with PM but never go around to it? Walk in at Keith's presentation and he will tell you about some of the pitfalls. That way it is easier to get started!
 * DEV02 PM programming pitfalls
 * Keith Merrington
 * Friday 11:45 Geverszaal
 * Saturday 13:30 Geverszaal

On Saturday the Dutch eCS usergroup will hold their meeting at Warpstock. More people you can share your eCS experiences and questions with.
 * WSH01 Dutch ECS User Group
 * no speaker assigned
 * Saturday 11:00 Deutzzaal
 * Saturday 13:30 Deutzzaal


 * EVT01 Welcome
 * Roderick Klein
 * Friday 10:00 Ridderzaal

Closing statements for the event! All good things must come to end. And we close slightly earlier today because some people will travel back home. We all hope to see you next year and that this event will inspire everybody to enjoy working with and on eComStation. If anybody feels he wants to help organizing the event next year. Please let us know!
 * EVT02 Goodbye
 * Roderick Klein
 * Sunday 15:00 - All rooms

Today's opening & announcements, what changes on the program or other import things you should know!
 * EVT03 Opening
 * no speaker assigned
 * Saturday 10:00 Ridderzaal
 * Sunday 10:00 Ridderzaal

Catch up with old friends, have a drink and see what everybody's been doing since the last Warpstock! You can also sit down with your laptop and share problems/solutions with other people.
 * SLF01 Meeting room (daytime program)
 * Friday 13:30 Deutzzaal
 * Friday 11:00 Deutzzaal
 * Sunday 11:00 Deutzzaal

Catch up with old friends, have a drink and see what everybody's been doing since the last Warpstock! You can also sit down with your laptop and share problems/solutions with other people. In the evening the bar is open in the Youth Hostel. So you can grab a drink and enjoy computers and friends at the same time :-)
 * SLF02 Meeting room (evening program)
 * Saturday 19:00 Deutzzaal
 * Friday 19:00 Deutzzaal

Speakers

 * David Azarewicz (United States):David Azarewicz is a hardware and software development engineer with a wide variety of experience with computers from dedicated process controllers to PCs to mainframes to supercomputers. His experience includes analog and digital hardware development, device drivers and applications.


 * Joachim Benjamins (Netherlands):joachim@mensys.nl - Mensys B.V:
 * Yuri Dario (Italy):Yuri Dario started using OS/2 with 2.0 beta releases. He works as teacher and freelance software developer. He started porting unix software to OS/2 in late 90s on opensource projects like SANE, msql, mysql, and many others. He also worked on commercial software like BlueCAD, Opera, OpenOffice.org.
 * Roderick Klein (Netherlands):Roderick Klein has been working at Mensys, the European distributor of eComStation, since 2001. He started using OS/2 when the Warp 3 beta from IBM came out. Working on further improving the IT infrastructure of Mensys and providing support internally and to customers, he also works on eComStation development, support, research and new projects. He is president and liaison officer of VOICE, and...
 * Dmitriy Kuminov (Russia):Dmitriy Kuminov has been in the OS/2 world since 1995 when he started to use it as a server machine for the school network where he worked as a teacher. In 2004, with the assistance of netlabs.org, he was hired by a Norwegian company and ported the Qt graphical toolkit version 3 to OS/2. For almost five years afterwards he worked at InnoTek (and then at Sun) on the...
 * Steven Levine (United States):Steven Levine has been active in the computing industry for almost forty years. He has held a variety of positions emphasizing custom product development and support in both engineering and commercial environments. Currently, he is President and Chief Technical Officer of Steven Levine and Associates, Inc. Steven became aware of OS/2 back in the 1.2 days when he...
 * Keith Merrington (Netherlands):Keith Merrington has been in computing since punched cards were used as input, and computers were made from discrete components. He has worked for various computer companies such as ICL English Electric, Philips Office Computer Systems, and Philips Microprocessors both in the commercial and technical side. He built his first computer soldering the chips in by hand, back in the 80's based on a...
 * Silvan Scherrer (Switzerland):Silvan Scherrer started using OS/2 with Warp 3 releases. He works as chief technical officer at AROA Informatik AG. At early 2008 he started to port software to OS/2 on open source projects like Samba, Lucide, Smplayer, QBittorrent and many others. He also works as project manager for Qt 4 port, OpenJDK6 and some smaller projects.
 * Gregg Young (United States):Gregg is currently the chief of podiatry at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. He also just happens to have been an OS/2 user since 2.1. He has recently learned C and now assists with the development of FM/2.

Presentation timetable
This table shows only abbreviated versions of the presentation titles. In order to view the full title of a presentation, please move the mouse pointer over the presentation id or click on the id to view the details.

Resources

 * OS2World Gallery Photos

Live audio stream
During Warpstock Europe 2013 you can listen to the audio stream in mp3 format by pointing your audio player at:

Opens external link in new window: http://stream.warpstock.net:8405/warpstock.mp3

(Yes the URL is correct it is NOT warpstock.eu!) Also the link will NOT function outside of broadcast hours specified!

For eComStation and OS/2 you download the Z MP3 player Opens external link in new windowZ! MP3 player. Unzip it and when you have started Z.exe use the g menu option to specify the above stream address. On Windows you can use Windows Media Player or VLC; on Linux use VLC or Mplayer.

Please take into account the time difference! The Netherlands in the same time zone as France. If you are located for example in New York in the Netherlands it´s 6 hours later than New York. The Netherlands has timezone CEST (Central European Time), GMT +2.

If you want to ask questions during the presentations use an IRC client and connect to the server irc.ecomstation.com and join channel #WSE2013.

On Friday the 24th of May you can listen from 10:00 until 17:00 hour. The following presentations will be streamed EVT01, APP01, ALL02, DEV02,ALL03,APP05,ALL0, APP07

On Saturday the 25th of May you can listen from 10:00 until 17:00 hour. The following presentations will be streamed EVT03,ALL03,APP05,APP02,APP03,APP04,APP06,DEV01

On Sunday the 26th of May you can listen fron 10:00 until 15:15 hour. The following presentations will be streamed EVT03, APP04,ALL01, APP02,ALL04,APP03,EVT02.

Please see the Opens internal link in current windowOpens internal link in current window Presentation timetable which code represents which presentation slot and at what time its broadcast.

During the lunch and coffee break the stream will be switched off! Thit means your audio player is disconnected and you will need to reconnect if the stream is no longer playing!

=Location=

Heemskerk
After the time of knights and nobles, Heemskerk remained a small, quiet village near the dunes. Its residents, who mainly worked in agriculture and keeping cattle, had good, but also some very bad times. From the time that products - mainly strawberries for the neighbouring town Beverwijk, where the fruits were sold - were brought to the market with donkeys, people from Heemskerk got the name of Donkey as a nickname and symbol.

Event location
The event is located at Stayokay Heemskerk. StayOkay Heemskerk is located in a 13th-century castle, Slot Assumburg. Whether you’re exploring the surrounding dune landscape or pay a visit to the town, at the hostel you’ll feel like lord or lady of the manor. The grand entrance, beautiful rooms, the moat: everything is so enchanting! The hostel has large rooms with private bathroom facilities. Address

StayOkay Heemskerk Tolweg 9 1967 NG Heemskerk

Tel: +31 251 232 288 Fax: +31 251 251 024

Email: Opens window for sending emailheemskerk(at)stayokay.com

=FAQ=

How can I support Warpstock Europe?
There are several possible ways to support Warpstock Europe. You can sponsor a particular event, help on-site while the event is running, link to our web site, or donate to warpevents.eu. For more information, please follow the link to the Support area above.

Who runs Warpstock Europe?
Actually, there are three parts to this answer.

Warpstock Europe events themselves are run by dedicated volunteers. Generally, there is an event team for each year that consists of different persons who have stepped forward to organise that particular event. Afterwards, that event team dissolves.

Between events, the warpevents.eu Steering Group takes over responsibility. This group consists of volunteers with experience in running events. Their task is to provide ongoing information about the status to the public, give advise to potential organisers, and support event teams in the planning and pre-event phase. This includes finding the best solution if more than one team is interested in running the next event.

The technical background is covered by warpevents.eu. This is a non-profit organisation of volunteers that provides the technical infrastructure for sharing information, communication, and organising an event.

Is Warpstock Europe a corporate event (IBM, Serenity Systems, etc.)?
No. The majority of the annual event team are professionals not affiliated with a specific company. A company may decide to support the event by providing funds or services, of course.

Which language are presentations held in? The one of the hosting country?
It depends on the event.

At Warpstock Europe, all sessions are held in English due to the international character of the event. Exceptions are only possible if both the audience and the presenter feel more comfortable in another language.

Things can differ at other events. This largely depends on the target group. At Warpstock Czech Republic, for instance, sessions are held in Czech or English, depending on speaker and audience. If required, on-the-fly translation is provided.

Is Warpstock Europe a family event?
Yes, and we welcome children under age 18 when accompanied by a registered parent or other responsible adult. However, Warpstock Europe seminars and events primarily cater to the information needs of OS/2 or eComStation users.

What should I do if I have special requirements?
We plan to hold all Warpstock Europe events in accessible buildings. Also, most catering services are happy to meet special dietary requirements, e.g., vegetarian, vegan, kosher, or other with prior notice. However, we encourage anyone with special requirements to contact the event team in advance.

What should I wear to Warpstock Europe?
We recommend something between "business casual" and "sporty casual" attire for all Warpstock Europe events. While jeans and a t-shirt will work, you might feel more comfortable at some events wearing clothing a bit more formal. Leave your suits/costumes and ties at home, though. Overall, you can't go wrong with jeans and a dress shirt.

Is it OK to bring a camera, tape, or video recorder?
Absolutely ... for your own personal use. As long as your recording device does not disrupt other guests, you can take all the pictures and recordings you want at all Warpstock Europe events, unless informed otherwise.

If you consider publishing your pictures or a video (web site, blog, newspaper, etc.), please respect the rights of each individual who can be identified on your material.

With the name of "Warpstock," is this some kind of Trekkie convention?
Nothing whatsoever, even though the name Warpstock has been—falsely—credited to a Mr. Spock relation. The first Warpstock was held at a time when the current version of IBM OS/2 was officially called "OS/2 Warp," and the event was to be in the spirit of Woodstock—with a slightly tongue-in-cheek motto of "peace, love, and OS/2." More information about the birth of this event is available on the History page of Warpstock, Inc.

Is Warpstock Europe only for users of OS/2 Warp and/or eComStation?
While the majority of sessions is centered around technologies related to OS/2 in its varying flavors and versions, much of the content is cross-platform, and may appeal to a wider audience.

For example, if you are a Linux user, you may find much of the presentations dealing with PHP and/or Java to be of interest, even though they may relate to OS/2 applications. Similarly, if you are a Windows user, you may find sessions on OpenOffice.org interesting, as well as PDF topics.

In fact, even if you have never used OS/2 before, you may very well find some things very interesting at Warpstock Europe: OS/2 and eComStation.

Is Warpstock Europe for business users of OS/2 Warp and/or eComStation?
Warpstock is for any user of OS/2 and eComStation. The variety of seminars and events is designed to appeal to the widest possible audience. We certainly welcome business users.

Why is this site not running on an OS/2 server?
Our focus is getting the job done—with a minimum of money and effort, and a maximum of reliability and sustainability.

Almost no provider offers hosting on OS/2. As a result, we would have to hire a dedicated server, which is expensive, or find someone who allows us to connect our machine to their server park. Running an own server requires that somebody is constantly available as administrator.

In addition, a number of required tools are not available for OS/2.

So instead, we have chosen to host the site at a professional hosting provider that is specialized on the CMS that we use. This has the following advantages:
 * Server hardware and software maintenance is handled by the provider.
 * First setup and maintenance of the CMS software and required tools is handled by the provider.
 * The server setup is optimized for the chosen CMS.
 * The hosting package includes support for the CMS.

Why are you using TYPO3? It is overly complicated, slow, technologically outdated...
There are a number of reasons:
 * This web site is going to be a huge project. What you see as the current warpstock.eu site is only a part.
 * We need all kinds of features.
 * Administration and the different content areas and languages will be handled by a larger number of persons.
 * A kind of quality assurance for the content has to be possible.
 * The CMS must be capable of handling this while keeping a tidy interface for the content editors.
 * Professional hosting must be available.

We can assure you that we are aware of the fact that TYPO3 does have a learning curve. But the results make the effort worthwhile.