About the Warp Pharmacy

Last update: 6th November, 1995

Q: What is the Warp Pharmacy?

A: The Warp Pharmacy is a location on the World Wide Web dedicated to providing support information for OS/2 Warp.

The Warp Pharmacy has been set up to distill the vast amount of knowledge that exists out there on the Internet about how to install and use Warp into valuable drops of wisdom that are easily digested by the Warp community at large.

One way to think of the Warp Pharmacy is as a distributed Frequently Asked Questions list (FAQ) that can be updated regularly to reflect the needs of the Warp community.

Tired of wading through the 500+ articles a day in comp.os.os2.* looking for that valuable tip? We can't promise to help, but perhaps you might find the answer you are looking for on one our shelves - our selection of cures for those bouts of colds and flu that Warp sometimes catches.

To access the Warp Pharmacy, use your favorite Web client and Warp across to: The Warp Pharmacy

Once you get there, be sure to check the list of mirror sites to find one closer to home.

Q: What do I need to visit The Warp Pharmacy?

A: To visit The Warp Pharmacy you need an IP connection to the Internet and a piece of software that is generically known as a Web client. If you don't have access to one or both of these, you can access the pages of the Warp Pharmacy using email. See a following question and answer for details about doing this.

If you have installed the Internet Connection portion of the OS/2 Warp Bonus Pack, click on the "Retrieve Software Updates" icon. This will start a program that will fetch and install the latest copy of IBM's WebExplorer package from an IBM site on the Internet. Once installed, you will be able to access the vast resources of the World Wide Web, including the pages of the Warp Pharmacy.

If you don't have Warp installed yet, but have a Windows machine that has connections to the Internet, try running a program called NetScape.

If you have access to a unix machine that is connected to the Internet try running a program called mosaic or xmosaic. This program is an X-Windows based Web client. If you cannot use X-Windows on your unix machine then you can try running a text mode Web client called lynx.

If your Internet access is via a dialin service that does not provide SLIP or PPP connections you might want to look at purchasing a copy of "The Internet Adapter", a nifty little program which allows dial in users to set up their own restricted form of SLIP connection without needing too much co-operation from local system administrators. Once you have TIA installed in your account you can use your normal dialup connection as if it were a "real" SLIP connection.

Q: I don't have an IP connection to the Internet. Can I use email to visit the Warp Pharmacy?

A: Yes. You can access the pages of the Warp Pharmacy (and the rest of the World Wide Web) by email.

To find out more about using the WWW with email, send a message to listserv@info.cern.ch containing the following line in the body of the message: send http://www.earn.net/gnrt/www.html In response to this message you will receive a note which provides a good introduction to the World Wide Web including further details about how to access the Web with email.

Q: Can the Warp Pharmacy be accessed by ftp?

A: No.

Q: Is the Warp Pharmacy supported by IBM?

A: No.

Q: Will the Warp Pharmacy respond to correspondence from individuals seeking assistance installing or using OS/2 Warp?

A: No.

The purpose of the Warp Pharmacy is to collate information contributed by others. It simply does not have the resources to find answers to new problems. If you need that type of help, either call IBM or post an article to one of the comp.os.os2.* newsgroups.

Sorry if that sounds unhelpful, but to try to solve everybody's problems would waste the limited resources we have to invest in this project.

Q: Can I help in some way?

A: Yes!!!

There are many ways that you can help the Warp Pharmacy do its thing; here are just some: Finally, when The Warp Pharmacy has a specific need for some kind of assistance from others, a message will be posted on the WANTED! page.
 * use it By using the Warp Pharmacy and sending us some feedback about your experiences you will help us improve the quality of service we provide. If you find the information is incomplete or inaccurate send a note to the author of the information outlining your suggested corrections.
 * tell others about it Do you find the Warp Pharmacy useful? If so, tell the others about it. The more people that know about the Warp Pharmacy the better, since it will increase the incentive for people to submit useful information.   In particular, if you see a problem report in a newsgroup for which the Warp Pharmacy already has a tonic, post a reply to the newsgroup which contains a reference to the Warp Pharmacy's solution.
 * contribute to it Do you have some information to contribute? If so, we would like to link it into the pages of the Warp Pharmacy.   If you belong to an OS/2 user's group you might like get the group to start compiling its own Web document which can then be linked into the Warp Pharmacy. In that way the experiences of your group's members can benefit the global Warp community.   For more information about contributing information to the Warp Pharmacy, see our Contribution Guidelines.

Happy Warping!