RELEASE NOTES FOR MATHCAD 5.0 AND MATHCAD PLUS 5.0 These notes provide last minute information on this version of Mathcad as well as corrections to the documentation. CONTENTS: 1: Preparing to Install 2: Preparing to Upgrade 3: Windows Swap File 4: Incompatible DLL dialog - when upgrading from Mathcad 4.0 5: Incompatible DLL dialog - when upgrading from Mathcad 3.1 6: Compressed Drives 7: DOS 21 Error 8: What are WIN32S Libraries 9: Incompatibilities 10: Installation with Program Manager substitutes 11: Updates to documentation 12: Compatibility with older versions of Mathcad 13: Deleting unnecessary files 14: The Mathcad Tutorial 15: Mathcad unable to write to registration database 16: Regional variations in spelling 1: PREPARING TO INSTALL -------------------------------------------------- Before installing: 1. Make sure that you have at least 15 MB free on your hard drive. For Mathcad PLUS, you should have 16 MB free. 2. Make sure you have disabled any virus checking software. 3. Make sure your system is set up to run Windows 3.1 in 386 enhanced mode or Windows NT. The installation script will not run otherwise. 4. Make sure you have shut down all other applications. 2: PREPARING TO UPGRADE ------------------------------------------------ When upgrading, you should install Mathcad 5.0 directly over your earlier version of Mathcad. To do so: 1. Make sure that you have at least 10 MB free on your hard drive. For Mathcad PLUS, you should have 11 MB free. 2. Make sure you have disabled any virus checking software. 3. Make sure your system is set up to run Windows 3.1 in 386 enhanced mode or Windows NT. The installation script will not run otherwise. 4. Make sure you have shut down all other applications. 5. When prompted for a directory, make sure to specify the directory containing your old version of Mathcad. This installation will automatically replace it. 3: WINDOWS SWAP FILE ----------------------------------------------------- If you see a dialog box saying "WIN32S requires Windows to run with virtual memory enabled. Re-install WIN32S" 1. Open up the Windows Control Panel and double-click on the 386 Enhanced icon to bring up a dialog box. 2. Click on the Virtual Memory button. 3. Click on the Change button and create a permanent or a temporary swap file. We require that the swap file be at least 8 MB. 4. Close all dialog boxes by clicking OK and restart Windows. WIN32S libraries require that a portion of your hard disk be set aside for a "swap file." It uses this file to create "virtual memory." Since virtual memory makes use of the hard disk, it is slower than actual RAM. You can improve its performance by creating a permanent swap file. Such a file makes use of contiguous blocks on your hard disk. The size of a permanent swap file is constrained by the smallest of the following three limits. 1. The amount of contiguous hard-disk space. You can increase this by de-fragmenting your hard disk using any of a number of commercially available utilities. 2. 50% of your free disk space. 3. Four times the amount of RAM on your system plus 4MB. Thus, 3MB RAM allows no more than 3MB*4 + 4MB or 16MB of swap file space. 4: INCOMPATIBLE DLL DIALOG BOX -- Upgrading from Mathcad 4.0 -------------- If you have previously installed any of the MathSoft add-ons listed below and are upgrading to Mathcad 5.0 (not Mathcad PLUS 5.0) you will see a dialog box listing the names of any add-ons having incompatible DLL files. Possible add-ons are: Signal Processing Function Pack Differential Equations Function Pack When you see the INCOMPATIBLE DLL dialog box, continue the installation and when the installation is complete follow the instructions below. All Function Packs require Mathcad PLUS 5.0. They are not designed to work with Mathcad 5.0. For additional information on Mathcad PLUS 5.0 please call MathSoft at 1-800-MATHCAD and ask for Customer Service. To avoid further error messages, rename the *.DLL files located in the \WINMCAD\EFI subdirectory to be *.DXX. Only rename the *.DLL files that are listed in the dialog box. Mathcad will no longer try to load them. 5: INCOMPATIBLE DLL DIALOG BOX -- Upgrading from Mathcad 3.1 -------- If you have previously installed any of the following MathSoft add-ons you will see a dialog box listing the incompatible DLL files. These include: Signal Processing Function Pack Treasury of Statistics, Vol. 1: Hypothesis Testing Treasury of Statistics, Vol. 2: Data Analysis Applied Mathcad Quarterly Magazine When you see the INCOMPATIBLE DLL dialog box, do one of the following: If Upgrading to Mathcad 5.0 Continue the installation and when the installation is complete follow the instructions below. Add-ons listed above other than the Signal Processing Function Pack should be re-installed. When you do so, install them as if you had Mathcad 4.0. If the installation for the add-on doesn't provide such an option, call Technical Support at 1-617-577-1778. All Function Packs require Mathcad PLUS 5.0. They are not designed to work with Mathcad 5.0. For additional information on Mathcad PLUS 5.0 please call MathSoft at 1-800-MATHCAD and ask for Customer Service. If Upgrading to Mathcad PLUS 5.0 Ignore the message and continue the installation. All Add-ons listed above should be re-installed. When you do so, install them as if you had Mathcad 4.0. If the installation for the add-on does not provide such an option, call Technical Support at 1-617-577-1778. If you do not successfully reinstall you may encounter the error message "Cannot find MCAD.DLL" or "Cannot find EFIUTIL.DLL." These messages are benign. They merely indicate that you have an older 16-bit DLL on your system. To update to a 32-bit file, please call MathSoft Technical Support at 617-577-1778 between 9:00 and 5:30 Eastern time. 6: COMPRESSED DRIVES ----------------------------------------------------- If you're using a disk compressor such as Stacker, we recommend you create a permanent swap file on your host drive. This will significantly improve performance. See section 3 above for information on how to create a swap file. Note that a permanent swap file, unlike a temporary one, can exist only on your host drive. It cannot be created on your compressed drive. If you're using DBLSPACE, DOS 6.0's compression utility, Windows will be able to create a permanent swap file only on your host drive. If you don't have the space to create a permanent swap file there, you can still run Mathcad by creating a temporary swap file on your compressed drive. 7: DOS 21 ERROR --------------------------------------------------------- If you see a dialog box saying "DOS Error = 21" when starting up Mathcad or Mathcad PLUS, do the following: 1. Exit to DOS. 2. Execute the file "_mcad.bat" found in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectory. If you do not have this file, see the instructions below. 3. Restart Windows. You should be able to run Mathcad now. These steps will give Windows access to the version of the WIN 32S libraries shipped with Mathcad 5.0. These files are needed to run Mathcad 5.0 or Mathcad PLUS 5.0 successfully. If you do not have a copy of the file "_mcad.bat:" 1. Exit to DOS. 2. Delete the following files from the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory: w32sys.dll win32s.ini win32s16.dll winmm16.dll 3. Delete the WIN32S subdirectory and its contents. 4. Restart Windows and ignore the error message that says a file necessary to run in 386 enhanced mode is missing. 5. Reinstall Mathcad. 8: WHAT ARE WIN32S LIBRARIES -------------------------------------------- The Mathcad installation script automatically installs Microsoft's WIN32S libraries. These Microsoft libraries permit Mathcad to use a limited subset of Windows-NT features. The 32-bit data path made available through the WIN32S libraries makes Mathcad run significantly faster. Once installation is complete, you'll find the WIN32S libraries in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WIN32S directory. 9: INCOMPATIBILITIES ---------------------------------------------------- Shareware Certain shareware memory monitoring software may be incompatible with Mathcad. If you are running such software and experience unexplained crashes, try disabling any memory monitoring software you have running. Anti-virus software Most anti-virus software will interfere with the installation program. Be sure to disable any such software before installing Mathcad. You can re-enable anti-virus software after Mathcad is installed. Math coprocessors If you get obviously inappropriate error messages when running Mathcad, for example an "illegal range" pointing to a simple range variable assignment, you may have an incompatible coprocessor. Some older 80387 coprocessors made by IIT have this property. If you have an IIT coprocessor, call IIT customer support at 800-832-0770 to inquire about a replacement. Some older computers are equipped with an 80287 coprocessor and an 80386 CPU. Although fundamentally incompatible, this combination works for many software packages. However, because of its extensive use of the coprocessor, Mathcad tends to expose even minor incompatibilities in this configuration. Printers If you can't choose Print from the File menu and you have an HP-Deskjet 500C printer you may need to upgrade your printer driver to version 3.0 or later. To do so, call HP at 208- 323-2551. Print Spoolers The print spooler WINJET comes with a file WINSPOOL.DRV. This is incompatible with the WIN32S file having the same name. When you attempt to install Mathcad with WINJET installed, the installation program quits about halfway through the process. To circumvent this problem, do the following: 1. Comment out the following lines in the [386enh] section of your SYSTEM.INI file by preceding each line with a semicolon. DEVICE: = LMHERALD.386 DEVICE: = LMMI.386 DEVICE: = LMCAP.386 2. Reboot the computer. 3. Install Mathcad. 4. Uncomment the above lines by removing the semicolons you placed in the SYSTEM.INI. file. 5. Reboot the computer. 10: INSTALLATION WITH PROGRAM MANAGER SUBSTITUTES ------------------------ Norton Desktop If you see an error message saying "Can't open group" you should: 1. Open File Manager and locate "MATHSOF0.GRP." This is usually in your \WINDOWS subdirectory. 2. Drag this file from the File Manager to your desktop. PC Tools You may find that icons for the tutorial and for the Electronic Books are missing from the MathSoft Apps group. To add these icons manually: 1. Choose New File from the File menu. 2. In the text box next to "Command Line" type the appropriate filename from the list below: TUTORIAL\TUTORIAL.EXE for the Tutorial HANDBOOK\DESKREF.HBK for the Desktop Reference HANDBOOK\SAMPLER.HBK for the Book Sampler These will generally be in the \WINMCAD directory. Click on the Browse button if necessary to help you find them. 3. To add the appropriate icons, click the Icon button and open HANDBOOK\EBOOK.ICO. For more information, contact Central Point Software directly at 503-645-6111. 11: UPDATES TO DOCUMENTATION --------------------------------------------- AUTOSCALE ON POLAR PLOTS The autoscale feature is not available for polar plots. When you leave a placeholder on the radial axis blank, Mathcad will always set it to the nearest major tick mark which allows all the data to appear on the polar plot. LOG SCALE ON POLAR PLOTS When the radius of a polar plot is negative, Mathcad plots the absolute value of the radius. ZOOM FEATURE FOR LOGARITHMIC PLOTS The zoom feature is not available for polar and x-y plots having a logarithmic axis. MATRIX FUNCTION IN MATHCAD PLUS 5.0 This version of Mathcad contains an undocumented function, matrix(m,n,f), which returns an m x n matrix whose ijth element is given by f(i,j) where i=0,1,2...m-1 and j=0,1,2...n-1. GENINV FUNCTION IN MATHCAD PLUS 5.0 The generalized inverse function, geninv(A), uses the built-in Mathcad variable TOL when calculating the generalized inverse of matrix A. To increase the accuracy of the geninv function, lower the value for TOL. After changing the value of TOL, recalculate by clicking on the geninv function and pressing [F9]. CHOLESKY FUNCTION IN MATHCAD PLUS 5.0 The Cholesky function, cholesky(M), for matrix decomposition uses the upper triangular matrix of matrix M rather than the lower triangular matrix. The documentation states that the matrix M must be positive definite. However, it is in fact the symmetric matrix formed by reflecting the upper triangle of matrix M about the diagonal which must be positive definite. NEW FEATURES SECTION IN USER'S GUIDE The new features section discussing additional features to Mathcad's dimensional analysis has an error. There are no additional units added either to Mathcad 5.0 or Mathcad PLUS 5.0. HEADERS AND FOOTERS This version of Mathcad allows headers and footers to contain more than one line. Simply press [Return] when typing the header or footer in the text box. 12: COMPATIBILITY WITH OLDER VERSIONS OF MATHCAD ------------------------ TITLES ON GRAPHICS When this version of Mathcad opens a document created by an older version, any graphics region in that document will have "Show titles" disabled. When adding a title to one of these graphics regions, make sure "Show titles" is enabled. DISPLAYING MATRICES If you load a document created in an earlier version of Mathcad into Mathcad 5.0 or Mathcad PLUS 5.0, any matrices in that document will be displayed as matrices rather than as scrolling output tables. To display a matrix as a scrolling output table, select the matrix and choose Numerical Format from the Math menu. Click in the box beside "Display as Matrix" to turn the option off. Then click OK. 13: DELETING UNNECESSARY FILES ------------------------------------------ If you are upgrading from an earlier version of Mathcad, some unnecessary files may remain in the \WINMCAD directory. These files will not affect the operation of Mathcad. However, if you need to free up disk space for any reason, you can delete the following directories from the \WINMCAD\HANDBOOK directory: GETSTART STANDARD TUTORIAL SAMPLE You can also delete the following files located in the \WINMCAD\HANDBOOK directory: GETSTART.HBK STANDARD.HBK TUTORIAL.HBK SAMPLE.HBK 14: THE MATHCAD TUTORIAL ------------------------------------------------ If you see the "Invalid Path" message upon double-clicking the tutorial icon it means that you do not have write-access to the disk on which the tutorial must create a file. To circumvent this problem: 1. In the Program Manager, click on the tutorial icon. 2. Choose Properties from the Program Manager's File menu. 3. Click in the Command Line text box and press the right arrow key until you see the "/D". 4. Delete the "/D" and click OK. 15: MATHCAD UNABLE TO WRITE TO REGISTRATION DATABASE ---------------------- If when you start Mathcad you see the error message "Mathcad is unable to write to the registration database" it means that your C:\WINDOWS\REG.DAT file either cannot be found, is read-only or corrupted. You can often fix this problem by making sure you've specified the complete path (C:\WINDOWS rather than just \WINDOWS) in your path statement. If this fails to fix the problem: 1. Check to make sure REG.DAT is not read-only. To do so, open File Manager, select REG.DAT and choose Properties from the File menu. If the Read Only box is checked, uncheck it, restart Windows and try running Mathcad again. 2. If step 1 didn't work, you'll have to run REGEDIT, a Windows supplied utility. Choose Run from the Program Manager's File menu and type REGEDIT /V in the Command Line text box. 3. Once REGEDIT is running, click on the "\" at the upper left corner of the window. 4. Choose Save Registration File from REGEDIT's File menu and specify a temporary name like OLDREG.REG. 5. Exit to DOS, rename the original REG.DAT file to REG1.DAT, and restart Windows. 6. Run REGEDIT /V again, as described in step 2. 7. Choose Merge Registration File from REGEDIT's File menu. 8. REGEDIT will prompt you for a file name. Use the same one as in step 4. 9. Click OK, exit Windows, reboot the computer and try running Mathcad again. 16: REGIONAL VARIATIONS IN SPELLING -------------------------------------- To accommodate regional variations in English spelling, this version of Mathcad provides the following dictionaries: AMERICAN - Default for versions sold in the US and Canada. Contains words like: "color", "organize", "tire". BRITISH_ISE - Default for English versions sold everywhere else. Contains words like: "colour", "organise", "tyre". BRITISH_IZE - Identical to BRITISH_ISE except words like "organise" are spelled as "organize". The following example shows how you would change your dictionary from AMERICAN to BRITISH_IZE: 1. Open the MCAD.INI file with a text editor. You'll find this file in the \WINMCAD directory. 2. In this file, locate the line "Spell-Dialect=AMERICAN" 3. Change this line to say: "Spell-Dialect=BRITISH_IZE" 4. Save the file and restart Mathcad.