Jonathan de Boyne Pollard wrote in a message to All:

 JdBP>     ...  the OS/2 Developers' Connection CD-ROM ?

 JdBP>       A common fallacy is that this is part of the DAP. 
 JdBP> Although DAP       membership gives cheaper subscription
 JdBP> rates to DevCon, the DevCon       CD-ROMs are available on
 JdBP> their own as single issues or as a yearly      
 JdBP> subscription.

 JdBP>       The DevCon CD-ROMs contain a wealth of source code,
 JdBP> tools,       development utilities, and documentation for
 JdBP> OS/2 programmers. 

Thanks for posting the superb review, but I have a suggested correction to
the above.  Please feel free to incorporate or redistribute my words below
in any manner you see fit.

The DevCon program now encompasses at least four different products: the
"base" DevCon (2 disks), the DevCon for LAN Systems, the DevCon
Device Driver Kit (DDK), and the DevCon Software Shopper.  As far as I
know, there are two pricing teirs: either all of the above without DDK, or
all of the above including DDK.  The DDK is no longer available without the
"base" DevCon.

DevCon "base" is a collection of numerous tools, documentation,
and other material useful mostly in combination with other development
tools.  For example, the Watcom 10.0 compiler has very limited support for
16-bit OS/2 because it does not ship with the OS/2-specific header files
needed to call the OS/2 16-bit API, but the OS/2 1.3 Toolkit on the DevCon
can be installed to fix this.

DevCon for LAN Systems is something that IBM keeps threatening to make a
separate product that costs extra money, but they haven't done it, and it
still seems to come free with the "base" DevCon.  It addresses
exactly what you would expect, including TCP/IP, CM/2, APPC, etc.

DevCon Software Shopper is a "try before you buy" sales tool that
comes with demo or trial versions of a number of IBM products, including
VisualAge, IBM C Set++ for OS/2, Software Installer for OS/2, Workstation
Interactive Test Tool, and Hyperwise.  If you want to purchase these
products, you call IBM and they give you an unlocking code in exchange for
a charge number.  DevCon Software Shopper is sent periodically to
"base" DevCon subscribers at no extra charge.

DevCon Device Driver Kit (DDK) is a very well-supported product necessary
to any developer working with OS/2 device drivers.  Support is included for
standard (DEVICE=) and base (BASEDEV=) drivers, for video/presentation
drivers, and so on.  Real source code to many IBM standard drivers is
provided, including OS2DASD.DMD, IBM1S506.ADD, COM.SYS, VCOM.SYS, and many
others too numerous to mention.  Some tools and libraries needed for device
driver development are supplied, including a 32-bit version of the MS C
compiler and MASM 5.10A.  No 16-bit compiler is supplied, but libraries and
headers are provided to call the DevHlp services from MS C 6, and can be
adapted to other compilers.
 
-- Mike


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