
                         IBM PS ASSISTANT (TM)
                      Developed by Mark T. Chapman
   IBM PC Company Personal Systems HelpCenter Technical Support Group
                    Copyright (C) IBM Corp. 1989-1997
                               ÄÄÄ  ÄÄÄ 

The intent of this file is to explain what the IBM PS Assistant is, how to
install it, how to obtain future upgrades, and what problems or limitations you
might run into while installing or using it.  (Note: Change Bars (|) indicate
new or modified information since the last release of this file.)

A complete list of the files that you should have is as follows:
|                         PS2ASST.ICO
                          PS2ASST.TXT  (This File)
                          PS2A_GEN.INF
                          PS2A_MKT.INF
                          PS2A_SVC.INF
                          PS2A_TEC.INF
                          PS1A_TSP.INF
                          PS2A_TSP.INF
                          PS2A_TTL.INF
The purpose of these files is described below.

 
OVERVIEW
--------
There are many sources of information available from IBM, including announcement
letters, service manuals, programming and technical reference manuals, how-to
"cookbooks," electronic bulletin boards (both public and IBM-use only), and
others.  The IBM PS Assistant is an attempt to bring much disparate and often
difficult to find information together into one easy-to-use "electronic book."

The IBM PS Assistant is an online help tool composed of PS/2 and OS/2-related
marketing, service, technical and general information.  The books include the:

IBM PS Marketing Assistant (filename PS2A_MKT.INF), which contains:
 IBM hardware and software pricing part number lists and descriptions.
 IBM publication ordering information.
 Feature Code/Part Number cross-reference.
 PCradio-PS/1-PS/2-PS/VP-ThinkPad features cross-reference.
 Promotional and upgrade information.
 Marketing Qs &amp. As, and more.

IBM PS Service Assistant (PS2A_SVC.INF), which contains:
 Hardware and OS/2 error code information.
 Latest DOS and OS/2 CSD information.
 Latest Reference and Diagnostic Diskettes list.
 ADF file cross-reference.
 Hardware and software service tips and Qs &amp. As, and more.
 
IBM PS Technical Assistant (PS2A_TEC.INF), which contains:
 Hundreds of hardware and software technical tips and Qs &amp. As.
 
IBM PS Technical Specifications Assistant #1 (PS1A_TSP.INF), which contains:
 Lengthy technical specifications documents for all PS/1, PS/VP, and
  non-Micro Channel PS/2 systems and related displays, past and present.
 
IBM PS Technical Specifications Assistant #2 (PS2A_TSP.INF), which contains:
 Lengthy technical specifications documents for all Micro Channel PS/2 and 
  ThinkPad systems and related displays, past and present.
 
IBM PS General Information Assistant (PS2A_GEN.INF), which contains:
 IBM and non-IBM telephone numbers.
 A list of OS/2-related BBSes.
 A list of OS/2-related PC User Groups.
 An acronyms and abbreviations list.

 
The reason for having a number of different books instead of just one large one
is two-fold.  First, there is so much information provided that it might be
awkward to use, and would take longer to search through than smaller books.  And
second, by dividing up all of this information into related subject matter,
those who don't need certain categories of information (such as service tips,
for example), can delete entire books to save disk space.  Besides, these files
may be logically linked together and viewed or searched as one large book, at
your preference.  (This procedure is explained in the accompanying PS2ASST.TXT
file.)  For convenience, the files will be collectively called the "PS Assistant"
throughout the rest of this document.
 
Not only is the information more "centrally located" this way than distributed
across all the individual documents, but due to its electronic nature, the
specific information you seek can be found more quickly and easily.  The source
information is compiled into binary files that take roughly half as much disk
space as ASCII files would.  And since the compiler also creates a "data
dictionary" of all words and numbers anywhere in the files, all occurrences can
be found and displayed on-screen in only a few seconds via the search facility
provided.  In addition, :hp2.hypertext links:ehp2. (hyperlinks) allow you to jump
from section to section within a book without ever having to return to the Table
of Contents.  Hyperlinks are :hp1.also:ehp1. used to display popup footnote
windows at the point of the footnote reference, rather than making you have to
scroll down to the bottom of a page, or the end of a chapter, to find the
footnoted information.

The PS Assistant is created by compiling scripted ASCII text files, using the
Information Presentation Facility (IPF) Tag Language and Compiler.  They are
included in the OS/2 V1.2 and 1.3 Programming Tools and Information toolkits
(P/Ns 6024929 or 85F1671), as well as the OS/2 2.0 Developer's Toolkit (P/N
10G3355-3.5"; 10G4335-5.25").  The PS Assistant requires OS/2 1.2 or later to
operate, because it uses the OS/2 VIEW.EXE command to access the files.  This is
the same command used to display the online OS/2 Command Reference.  Since both
files were created with the same compiler, and are displayed by the same
command, they look and act very much alike.  So if you know how to use one, you
also know how to use the other.

Note: The PS Assistant was tested, and does work, across an OS/2 LAN Server
V1.2-V3.0 network, relieving the need for disk space on the requester, not to
mention not having to keep all those requesters updated with the latest versions
of the PS Assistant books.  (For instructions on Setting Up an OS/2 LAN Server
to Share Online Books, see the document by the same name in the Networking Tips
section of the PS Technical Assistant.)
 
Features include:
 - A Table of Contents listing a number of sections containing PS/1-PS/2-PS/VP,
   OS/2, DOS, and AIX Marketing information; PS and OS/2 Service information;
   and PS and OS/2 Technical information, as well as PS Assistant
   overview and usage instructions (About PS Assistant - Tutorial).
 - A keyword Search capability, which highlights all occurrences of a word or
   phrase, anywhere in the PS Assistant, and displays all sections containing
   that string in a selection window.
 - A Print feature allowing you to print the Table of Contents, any section
   or group of marked sections, or the entire document(over 1500 pages worth!).
 - A Copy-to-clipboard function for copy/paste use.
 - A Copy/Append-to-ASCII-File capability to save to disk for future use.
 - A Bookmark feature to save a list of the frequently-referred-to sections
   for quicker access.
 - Contextual online Help for general usage information.
 
INSTALLING AND STARTING THE PS ASSISTANT
------------------------------------------
For performance reasons I strongly recommend that you copy the files to a hard
drive.  You may wish to add the PS Assistant to the C:\OS2\BOOK directory,
which already contains the online OS/2 Command Reference (and perhaps other
online OS/2 books, depending on what you have installed).  If you prefer to
create a separate directory for the Assistant, you should also change the     
SET BOOKSHELF= statement in CONFIG.SYS.  For example, if you create a directory
called PS2ASST, change SET BOOKSHELF=  from:

SET BOOKSHELF=C:\OS2\BOOK 

          to       

SET BOOKSHELF=C:\OS2\BOOK;C:\PS2ASST
This tells OS/2 where to look for online books.)                                                                       

Then on an OS/2 1.x system either:
         --------
1) Create a menu option (using Program...New from the Group action bar)
containing the following information:
 
     Program Title:  PS Marketing Assistant
     Path:           C:\OS2\VIEW.EXE
     Parameters:     PS2A_MKT          
                     (Note: The .INF file extension is NOT necessary here.)
 
and simply click on the PS Assistant menu option to run the program.
 
                                   or,
 
2) Type:  VIEW PS2A_MKT
 
to run the program directly from the command prompt.

Finally, you may wish to create a new Group specifically for the PS
Assistant, or for all online books, including the OS/2 and LAN command
references.  To do this, simply go to the Desktop Manager and select Group.

Then select New, and type in a Group Name (say, PS Assistant, or Online
Books).  After deciding whether to have the menu auto-start when you boot up
(under 1.3 or later), and whether to start minimized or "normalized", click on
Add, and you are done.  Once the group has been added, you can set up the menu
to include the Assistant books, by using Program...New, and filling in the
fields, as described above.

For OS/2 2.0 users:
    --------
1) Open the Information object on the desktop, and use Create Another (or hold
   down the Ctrl key and drag a book icon elsewhere in the folder and then drop
   it) to duplicate an existing book object
2) Open the icon Settings and change the Parameter field to the name of one PS
   Assistant book; then change the icon title and parameters.
3) Repeat steps 1) and 2) for the other books

Or, use the VIEW command as in OS/2 1.x.

Finally, you may wish to create a new Folder specifically for the PS
Assistant, or for all online books, including the OS/2 and LAN command
references.  To do this, simply go to the Templates folder and drag/drop the
Folder template onto your desktop (or inside another folder)  The folder will
be created with the name "Folder".  You can change this by either going into
the folder Settings ("General" tab), or by simply pressing the Alt-Leftmouse
button combination.


To install the other PS Assistant books, simply repeat the process,
substituting the other titles and file names in the above example.

 
AUTOSTARTING THE ASSISTANT
--------------------------
If you would like to automatically start the PS Marketing Assistant when you
boot up your system, add the following statement to your OS/2 1.x STARTUP.CMD 
batch file:
 
   START C:\OS2\VIEW.EXE PS2A_MKT.INF

Or, OS/2 2.0 users can add the book icon to the Startup folder.

 
LINKING BOOKS TOGETHER
----------------------
If you would like to logically link the some or all of the books together (to
simplify keyword searches of all the information in all of the files) into one
big menu, you can type from a command line (or put in a batch file or
CONFIG.SYS):
 
SET PS2ASST=PS2A_TTL.INF+PS2A_MKT.INF+PS2A_SVC.INF+PS2A_TEC.INF+PS2A_TSP.INF+...
(Note: The .INF file extension IS necessary here.)

This will create one "virtual" book called PS2ASST (or any other name you     
choose to assign).  To see the data, just VIEW PS2ASST as you would with one  
of the component files, or use PS2ASST as the parameter in a group setup.     

OR, create a menu option containing the following information (the file names
can be in whatever order you prefer):
 
   Program Title:  PS Assistant
   Path:           C:\OS2\VIEW.EXE
   Parameter:      PS2A_TTL+PS2A_MKT+PS2A_SVC+PS2A_TEC+PS1A_TSP+PS2A_TSP+...
                   (Note: The .INF file extension is NOT necessary here.)
 
(The disadvantage to these approaches is that the "About PS Assistant" menu
heading will appear six times each on the combined menu, because it exists in
all files.  This makes the menu a bit more cluttered, but nothing more.)
In the above examples, the title of the combined book would be "IBM PS
Marketing Assistant" because that is the title of the first file in the SET 
command.  If another file were first, its title would be used instead. 
 
For this reason there is one additional .INF file (named PS2A_TTL.INF,
896 bytes) on the diskette, which is merely a title header.  If you precede the
other file names in the examples above with this file name, your title will show
"IBM PS Assistant" as the title, instead of "IBM PS Marketing Assistant."  This
may be less confusing when you sometimes look at just one section of the PS
Assistant, and other times link several sections together.
 
(NOTE: In case you are wondering why the .INF extension was used in some of
the examples above, but not others, the answer is that it is optional when
using the VIEW command directly, as in VIEW xxxx; however when the START
command is used to launch a program, or the SET command is used to link files
together, the fully-qualified program and file names are required.  Not using
the .INF extension in these cases will cause a "Cannot Open Input File"
error.)

*** TIP ***
If you already have the Assistant installed in a group/folder, and want to move
the entries to their own group/folder, you can simply drag and drop (using the
"alternate" ["right" for right-handed users) mouse button) from one window to
another.  This will save a lot of typing (in the new group/folder) and deleting
(from the old location).  This "trick" works with any folder or Group menu items.


| INSTALLING THE PS ASSISTANT ICON
| --------------------------------
| There is one final file, PS2ASST.ICO included with the PS Assistant.  It is an
| icon that can be used to distinguish the PS Assistant books from others you may
| have.  (Note:  While you can assign this icon to objects in a folder, when the
| books are actually being displayed, and are minimized to the desktop, the
| (default) icon for the VIEW.EXE program is used.)
|
| For OS/2 2.1 users:
|     --------
| This is very simple:
| First, use the Drives icon to find the directory (such as C&colon.\OS2\BOOK) 
| containing the icon file, and open that folder/directory so that you can see 
| the PS2ASST.ICO icon.  Then open the Settings for the book you wish to apply 
| the icon to, and select the General tab. Then simply drag then icon (using the
| right mouse button) from the folder onto the icon displayed in the Settings.
| When you drop the icon it replaces the original one in the Settings.  This is
| a new feature in 2.1.  Any icon can be replaced by any other icon in seconds,
| without knowing the name or location of either the original or replacement
| icon.  You only have to be able to drag one icon onto another, even if it is
| an application on your desktop that doesn't have a specific icon file.  Just
| drag and drop the application object onto the Settings notebook and the icon
| will be "absorbed.
|
| For OS/2 2.0 users:
|    --------
| First, open the Settings for the book you wish to attach the icon to.  Click
| on the General notebook tab, press the Find button and then the Locate button.
| Click on the Path tab and type in the path where the icons can be found (such
| as C&colon.\OS2\BOOK).  Press the OK button, then the Find. button.  Use the
| scroll bar as necessary to spot the icon you want and then click on it to
| select it.  Press the OK button; if the correct icon is now shown in the
| Settings notebook, close the settings.  If not repeat the steps, being careful
| to follow them exactly.  (This process sounds more confusing than it really is,
| once you get used to it.)


USAGE INSTRUCTIONS
------------------
Information on using the PS Assistant is available by double-clicking on the
first option (About PS Assistant - Tutorial) on the Contents menu.  If
you are familiar with using the OS/2 Online Command Reference, then you already
know how to use the PS Assistant; however there is some information specific
to the PS Assistant contained in this section that should be read before
using the first time.

*** HOT TIP ***                                                               
If you know the name of the section you will be looking in first, you can jump
directly to that section from the command line.  For example, if you want to  
look up a phone number, rather than typing VIEW PS2A_GEN, and then selecting  
the IBM Phone Number list, and then the IBM Voice Phone Numbers, you could    
type:                                                                         
                        VIEW PS2A_GEN VOICE                                   
 
and jump directly to that section.  This technique works only for the FIRST   
menu topic containing that keyword.  If, for example, you searched on PHONE,  
you would get the IBM Phone Number header.                                    
 
This trick won't always get you where you want to go on the first try, but it 
can be a time-saver once you get the hang of it.                              
 
******************************************************************************
 
UPDATES
-------
| The PS Assistant is updated every 2-3 weeks, and released via the IBM PSHC BBS
| (see below) for end-users (PS2ASST1.ZIP and PS2ASST2.ZIP, as well as 
| individual books in ZIP'ed format), and the MKTTOOLS and PCWIN tools disks 
| (PS2ASST PACKAGE on MKTTOOLS and PS2ASST3 PACKAGE on PCWIN) for IBMers.  IBM
Developer Assistance Program (IDAP) members,and customers registered as 
Technical Coordinators, who have access to IBMLINK also may download the PS 
Assistant, using the instructions provided (from the Software Mall).  IBMers 
may type in the following command from the VM command line to get the latest 
copy of the PS Assistant:

         TOOLCAT MKTTOOLS GET PS2ASST PACKAGE

                         -or-

         TOOLCAT PCWIN GET PS2ASST PACKAGE
 
If this doesn't work, use the following:

         TOOLS SENDTO USDIST TOOLS MKTTOOLS GET PS2ASST PACKAGE

                               - or -

         TOOLS SENDTO BCRVMMS1 PCWIN PCWIN GET PS2ASST PACKAGE

To subscribe to the PS Assistant (and receive future updates automatically),
repeat the previous command, substituring SUB for GET.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
---------------
Due to some technical problems with MKTTOOLS, some long-time subscribers have
had trouble receiving the PS Assistant from MKTTOOLS lately.  Those users
should try subscribing via the PCWIN disk as an alternative.


FEEDBACK
--------
If you have any comments, suggestions, or find any errors, please let me know.
I can be reached through the IBM PC Company Personal Systems HelpCenter BBS.
Dealers registered with the IBM Technical Advisor program may use the 800 # to
call the Technical Advisor BBS (TA BBS) set up for them.  Others may call
404-835-6600 for USR Dual Standard 9600 bps modems, or the first available
modem line; or 404-835-5578 for only IBM 7855 modem lines; or 404-835-6296 for
only Hayes V-Series or Ultra Smartmodems.  Communication parameters supported
are 300-14400 bps, N, 8, 1, except for the V-Series modems (9600).

| IBMers can reach me internally at T/L 255-0484 or MCHAPMAN @ DAYVM2.  There
is also a PS2ASST FORUM available on the IBMPC disk.

| I can also be reached by mail at the address contained in the Tutorial section
| of each PS Assistant book.

******************************************************************************
 
KNOWN PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS
------------------------------
1) It appears that you cannot print from the Assistant if the OS/2 1.x Spooler
is disabled. If you receive printing errors, check to be sure the spooler is
enabled, or type SPOOL at a command prompt to enable it.
 
2) In some instances (such as searching through fixed-pitch text, such as the
price list, and some tables) a multi-part search string (for example,
MATH COPROCESSOR) may not return all valid matches.  This is a limitation of
the VIEW.EXE command, and thus outside my control.  If you do not get as many
"hits" as you expect, try a shorter search string (such as MATH), or use
wildcards (MATH CO*).  Single-word searches appear to work correctly.  This
| is still a problem as of OS/2 2.0, but was fixed in OS/2 2.1.
 
3) If you try to use STARTUP.CMD to start more than one .INF file (whether
PS Assistant, CMDREF.INF, or other online help file) you may receive an OS/2 
error message for each attempt after the first.  This is due to a  
timing problem (the second copy trying to load before the first finishes) in
OS/2 1.2 and 1.3.  The fix for this bug is in OS/2 V1.30.1 (also called CSD
5015), and later versions.
 
4) There may be a problem trying to print (from VIEW.EXE) INF file information
on a PostScript printer.  If you encounter strange wrapping problems on a PS
printer, try changing your printer into IBM Proprinter (or other ASCII printer)
emulation mode if your printer has such a mode (or any other emulation mode
that is known to work with the PS Assistant).  Then set the Print Manager
Application Default (from Setup) to use an OS/2 driver compatible with this
printer mode.  (If this works, don't forget to reset your printer mode and OS/2
driver back to their original settings when done printing from the Assistant.
If your printer is capable of printing ASCII files, another approach is to use
the Copy to File pulldown option.  This will save the selected sections to a
file called TEXT.TMP, in the same directory as the INF file you are copying
from.  Then simply use the File Manager to drag-and-drop the file to the Print
Manager icon.  Then answer the prompt for the device driver to use, and when
prompted whether the data is Graphics or Text, specify Text.  (The reason for 
doing it this way, rather than using the Print command, is that many PS 
printers do not automatically switch from PS mode to ASCII mode, and tend to 
"eat" the ASCII file instead of printing it.  The drag/drop method forces the
printer into ASCII mode, if the printer has an ASCII mode.)

5) If you are using the Assistant on an LS 1.3 network, make sure that all INF
files are set up with read-only attributes, otherwise all users trying to share
a file that is already open will receive "access denied" error messages.  This
is true of any INF files you might be sharing (Command Reference, etc.).

6) OS/2 1.3 servers attempting to share common INF files, but use the "local"
copy of VIEW.EXE from the requester will either need to install CSD 5050 or
later (1.30.2), or upgrade to LAN Server 2.0 or later.  This feature was added
after the 1.3 base code was released.

8) The 2.0 ServicePack introduced a bug that renders wildcard (*) searches
inoperative, and the December 1992 2.1 beta code continues this bug.  OS/2
2.1 fixes it.  So until you upgrade to 2.1, don't use wildcard searches, which
will always return "Cannot find Search Text" messages.

9) If you are trying to concatenate file names in the Parameters field of a
book object (such as: PS2A_TTL.INF+PS2A_MKT.INF+PS2A_SVC.INF+PS2A_TEC.INF+...)
on a 2.0 system, but get a "Cannot open input file" message, try removing all
the .INF extensions from the file names (they are not necessary).  There
| appears to be a limitation to the length of this string in 2.0.  So don't try
| to link more than about 6 file names this way, even without the .INF
| extensions. 2.1 removes this limitation.

I hope you find this tool to be useful.  Good luck!
 
                               Mark Chapman
                Advisory Marketing Support Representative
   IBM PC Company Personal Systems HelpCenter Technical Support Group
 
NOTE: The information contained in the IBM PS Assistant is copyrighted by IBM 
and may not be modified in any manner, or for any reason. In addition, the name
"PS Assistant" and derivatives thereof have been trademarked. See the "About PS
Assistant" menu option in the PS Assistant for trademark information and
additional disclaimers.
