The author of WarpGLOBE Sergio Costas (Raster) (scostas@arrakis.es) decided migrate to Linux after the declarations of IBM about OS/2 and the source code is now available for everyone that intend to continue the development of this soft.

READ ALSO:

The OS/2 Client Case or The Adventures of Lou Gestnerger, The OS/2 SOHO Users XTerminator

SPECIAL NOTICE:

Are you informed that IBM has been purchased 300,000 licenses of Windows 2000 for internal use? Incredible, but is true! IBM was injured OS/2 SOHO users in all manners: discontinued the Client, killed the support, closed the free downloads from Software Choice.

 Here is the author's announcement:

The WarpGLOBE project is frozen. After the declarations of IBM I decided to migrate to Linux. The source code is now available under GPL license, in the hope that somebody will want to continue it. The new homepage of the WarpGLOBE project is:

  http://raster.cibermillennium.com/globeeng.htm

Sorry.

About WarpGLOBE

WarpGLOBE is a program that puts an earthglobe on the desktop and paints cities with OS/2 users. It also paints the light and dark zones produced by the sun's rotation. Of course, the user can select which part of the earth to see. The image is refreshed at an interval chosen by the user. This program is similar to one for Linux, but this is more pretty :-)

Photo above shows the menu for WarpGLOBE configuration

HOW TO USE THE PROGRAM

In order to execute WarpGLOBE You need the EMX runtime, which is distributed in the file EMXRT.ZIP, available from multiple FTP sites.

There's a file, GLOBEUSR.ZIP, which is available only in the author's web page, and is updated each time I receive new cities. It's a good practice to watch the page each one or two week, and unzip the file in WarpGLOBE's directory. Doing this, the new cities will be added to your globe. The file USERS.NFO included in GLOBE.ZIP could be old when you download it.

        Unzip GLOBE.ZIP into a single directory. Then you can run GLOBE.EXE. The first time it shows a message: 'Config file not found or incorrect. Creating one'. All is right. Press any key and the menu will be shown. If you want that WarpGLOBE will autorun each time that OS/2 boot, just execute ADDWPS (included with WarpGLOBE). This program will create an icon in the Startup Folder.

        WARNING! Don't use DETACH to launch WarpGLOBE. It could not run right. If you don't want see the window, you can activate the 'Start minimized' option in the 'Properties' section of the program icon.

        ADDWPS is a program with his own license, which I reproduce here:

AddWPS was written by Michael Douglass to be used for any program which would like to support OS/2's Workplace Shell.  AddWPS will instantly add folders and programs to your OS/2 WPS for you to use WarpGLOBE under OS/2.  You should have no problems using AddWPS as long as it was configured correctly by the author of WarpGLOBE  Note:  Any and all damage caused by AddWPS is not the fault of Michael Douglass. -Use at your own risk-

AddWPS v1.0 Copyright 1994 Michael Douglass

        Here you can see and modify the program's parameters, which are:

        GMT: is the number of hours local time leads or trails Greenwich time. An example: in Spain we use Greenwich meridian time (so this value must be 0). But in summer, we have one hour more than the solar time (two more in winter), so we have to put -1 ( -2 in winter). In Canarias
Islands, they have one hour less, so we must put -2 ( -3 in winter).

        Earth angle: contains a number betwen 0 and 359. This is the number of degress that the globe will be rotated. If you put 0, Greenwich meridian will be centered. If you put 90, North and South America will be centered... If the 'Static sun' option is active, then this value represent the number of degress that the sun will be rotated.

        Cities' diameter: is the height of the red points that represent the cities. If you put 0, the program will not paint any city.

        Horizontal: contains the horizontal resolution of the Presentation Manager. If your screen's resolution is 800x600, you must put 800 here. The number could be between 640 and 4096.

        Vertical: contains the vertical resolution of the Presentation Manager. If your screen's resolution is 800x600, you must put 600 here. The number could be between 480 and 3072.

        Refresh every: is the refresh time in minutes. Every n minutes the background will be repainted.

        Static sun: if this is active (yes), causes the earth globe to rotate to follow the sun.

        Paint stars: if this is active (yes), causes WarpGLOBE to paint stars in the space around the earth.

        Ambient light: sets the ambient light, from 0 to 99,to add to the dark zones of the planet, so it will not be painted black.

        Idle mode: if this parameter is 'Yes', the program's priority will be changed to 'idle', so the CPU use will be reduced to 0%. If it's 'No', the program's priority will be 'Normal'.

        Stars density: is the number of stars that the program will paint. It must be bettwen 1 and 10000.

        Status: shows the status of the program: 'Sleeping', when it's waiting for the next moment to refresh background, and 'Creating image', when it's recalculating the background and painting it. During this state, you can't change the options of the program.

There are two more options in the menu:

        Refresh background: repaints the image, so you don't need wait to the end of the refresh interval to see the efFect of your changes. Remember that the program needs some seconds to repaint the background, so be patient.

        End WarpGLOBE: ends the program and returns to the command line.

WarpGLOBE reads the users data each time it makes a new image, so you can change this in every moment without stopping and relaunching the program.

I strongly recommend a mode with 32768, 65536 or 16 million colors, because with 256 colors, the image is a little poor (unless you specify the 'PM palette aware' option in OS/2 settings). It's a problem of the Presentation Manager :-(

There's another problem: Presentation Manager has a 'cache' where it saves the bitmaps, so if we change the image into a bitmap file, but not the name of this file, the PM will not change the background. To fix this, WarpGLOBE saves each image with a new name, and deletes the old
bitmap from the hard disk. This explain why if you stop and relaunch WarpGLOBE, is possible that will show an old image. Refreshing the background twice (with the menu's R option) will correct this.

WHAT ABOUT OTHER PLANETS?

If you have an image of another planet and you want to use it instead the earth image, you only need to convert it to a PCX file and save it in the same directory of the program, naming it as MUNDO.PCX (first back up the old MUNDO.PCX, of course). The PCX file could be 8 or 24 bit per pixel, and can have any size.

HOW TO COLLABORATE

If you want your city to be included in the map, first see if it is already in the list of cities (in my home page). If not, follow these steps:

        *Load MUNDO.PCX with the OS/2 image viewer (simply open your C: folder and double click over its icon).

        *Put the mouse pointer over your city, and write the X-Y coordinates that gives the program. Don't worry if the picture is up-side down. I'll calculate the right coordinates.

        *Then, send me an e-mail with your city's name, country, and the X-Y coordinates. It will be included in the next file GLOBEUSR.ZIP.

HISTORY

Beta 1: first public release

Beta 2: WarpGLOBE locks the users file, so it wasn't possible to change the list of cities without stopping the program. Fixed.

Beta 3: Usage of dynamic memory, so it uses less memory.

        Pointer optimization, so it uses less CPU.

        Memory array containing the bitmap is cleared every time, so it fixes random points in the image.

        Control and configuration with easy-to-use menus.

        User can select the height of the cities' points, the refresh period and the ambient light level for the dark zone of the earth.

        Now it can paint stars (optional).

        Sun can be static, so the earth will rotate to follow the light (optional).

Beta 4: Last image is deleted after the refresh interval, so it would be repainted right.

Beta 5: Close aplication signal is captured, so WarpGLOBE deletes all temporary files when its window is closed.

Beta 6: In systems without 4OS2, WarpGLOBE can't get the path with the standar C calls. Fixed, using OS/2 API calls (DosQueryCurrentDisk and DosQueryCurrentDir).

Beta 7: Smaller executable file.

        Better close application signal capture, so the program exits cleaner.

        Allows to be executed in Idle Time priority, so the CPU usage will descend to 0%.

        Allows to change the number of stars to be painted.

Beta 8: Allows to use an alternative image with 8 or 24 bits per pixel, and without any limit in its size.

        Allows to change the earth angle even when the option 'Static sun' is active, so the sun mustn't be placed in front of the user.

        Allows to maintain the background even when the user exits, or delete it, changing with the base color.

        Has an install program that creates an icon in the Startup Folder, so WarpGLOBE will start automatically each time that OS/2 boot.

Version 1.0: is the same beta 8, but in a new ZIP package.

AUTHOR'S SPECIAL THANKS TO:

Pablo Costas, who gave me the earth image.

The people who made that image (unfortunately, I don't know who they are).

Johannes Martin, author of a sample code to change the desktop background.

Craig Colby, who rewriten the english instructions.

MaQui, who made the excellent icon for WarpGLOBE.

And all people that helped by sending cities and countries.

CONTACT AUTHOR

Sergio Costas Rodriguez (Raster)
scostas@arrakis.es
http://raster.cibermillennium.com/globeeng.htm

@Macarlo, Inc.
@Macarlo's Shareware & Web
OS/2
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