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1 PowerPPL 2.21 (C)1994-1996 by Lone Runner/AEGiS CoRP All Rights Reserved 2 Index GENERAL Installation............................ 3 What is PowerPPL........................ 4 First Time Configuration................ 5 CREATING AN APPLICATION Managing Projects....................... 9 Compiling the Source File............... 10 Running the Source File................. 11 Working with $INCLUDE Files............. 12 USING POWERPPL Command Line Parameters................. 13 Opening a File.......................... 14 Saving a File........................... 15 Changing Directory...................... 16 Shelling to DOS......................... 17 Exiting PowerPPL........................ 18 The IDE (Keys).......................... 19 The Clipboard........................... 20 Searching/Replacing Text................ 21 Setting Compilation Arguments........... 22 Resizing/Moving Windows................. 23 The Message Window...................... 24 The Tag Window.......................... 25 Customizing Colors...................... 26 Setting Environment Options............. 27 Setting Tabulation Length............... 28 Saving/Retrieving the environment....... 29 Using Help.............................. 30 Performing a Zippy Text Search in Help.. 31 The Ascii Table / The @Xnn Pick Chart... 32 The Calculator.......................... 33 The Calendar............................ 34 Changing video mode to 50 lines......... 35 The About box........................... 36 Troubleshooting......................... 37 REGISTRATION Getting Your FREE KeyFile............... 38 PPE Groups Offer........................ 40 POWERPPL DEVELOPMENT Becoming a Beta-Tester.................. 42 Becoming a Distro Site.................. 43 Suggestions/Remarks..................... 44 Getting New Versions.................... 45 NOTES Thanks................................. 46 Copyrights.............................. 47 Disclaimer.............................. 48 3 INSTALLATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~ File Identification The ojriginal PowerPPL archive filename MUST be POWPPnnn.xxx (nnn is the version number and xxx is the archiver extention) For example, ZIP version of PowerPPL 2.21 is POWPP221.ZIP If the archive filename does not match this chart, it is surely a faked/repackaged/infected version... Please, delete it. Installation Extract the archive contents in a temporary directory (for example C:\TEMP). Move to this directory and type INSTALL. Before doing anything, the installation program will ask you if you agree to send a postcard to the author if you find PowerPPL usefull... Type YES if you agree, anything else if you don't... At this point, you will just have to specify the destination Drive & path (default directory is \POWERPPL) and PowerPPL will be installed on your hard disk. It is strongly recommanded to add your PowerPPL path into your PATH environment variable, so you will just have to type PP to run it. Warning : The installation program may have problems when trying to install PowerPPL on a network or SUBST drive... 4 What is PowerPPL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PowerPPL is an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) to use in conjunction with PPLC & PCBOARD from Clark Development. What can PowerPPL do for you ? PowerPPL can help you to design sophisticated PPE's without the need of leaving the editor to compile and even RUN the PPE... PowerPPL can remind you how to use any PPL function/procedure just by typing CTRL-F1 on it, or let you search for a keyword within the help file... PowerPPL can help you to organize your source code by colorizing it. PowerPPL can help you to manage your projects and multiple include files by keeping track of each file into a single project file. What PowerPPL can NOT do for you ? PowerPPL can not seek bugs for you withing your source code. PowerPPL can not imagine ideas for new PPE's. PowerPPL can not make coffee :-) 5 First Time Configuration ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now you have installed PowerPPL, you should configure it to match your needs... First select the Menu by pressing F10. Move to the "Options" menu. Move to the "Directories" option. Here, you can see a dialog box asking you to specify your paths. "Output directory" is the directory where compiled PPE files should be created. Leave blank for current directory. Note that it is not recommended to put a network path here. "PPLC.EXE Pathname" is the executable file to run when compiling the PPS source file... "PCBOARD.EXE Pathname + is the executable file to launch when running the PPE "PCBOARD.DAT Path" is the Path (Only path! Not Path & filename!) to your PCBOARD.DAT. This is needed when running the PPE. Once this is configured, press enter to confirm. Press F10 to select the Menu bar Move to the "Run" menu. Move to the "User info" option. This will brings you another window with 3 fields. Enter here your first name, your last name, and your password, exactly as they are on your PCB account ! If you do not wish to put your account here, put the account you want, but be aware that if you put an account that has limitations within PCB, the same limitations will apply when running a PPE with this account loaded. Those informations are needed when running the PPE... PCBoard has to load some user informations in order to be able to fill the user variables... However, if you specify nothing here, PCB will launch the PPE but some functions (such as U_NAME()) will not run correctly... Once configured, press enter to confirm. 6 That's it, everything that was necessary for PowerPPL to work is configured. Following instructions are optionnal... Press F10 to select menu bar. Select "Options" menu. Select "Customize Colors" option. Here you can change the entire color set. You may customize the code colorization... Once customized, press enter to confirm. Press F10 to select menu bar Select "Environment" option. Check if everything match your needs... - Compile - Create PPE When selected, PowerPPL will generate a PPE... if not selected, no PPE will be created (if a PPE file exist, it will remain intact) - Editor - AutoIndent When selected, the editor will automatically indent the following line when pressing enter on a line beginning with spaces or tabs. - Info Header In Editor When selected, PowerPPL will generated and update an info header in each PPS file loaded... The info Header is a the beginning of the file and look like this : ;-----------------------------------------------PowerPPL v2.1-- ; File : MYPROG.PPS ; Original by : JACK THEBEST on 12/12/1994 at 20:53:52 ; Last update by : JOE SYSOP on 02/14/1995 at 14:13:01 ;-------------------------------------------------------------- The "Original by" field is created when the header itself is created. The "Last update by" field is updated each time the file is saved. The sysop names are taken from the registration information, so this option is only for registered users... 7 - Save All Before Compile When selected, PowerPPL save every editor window before compiling... - Create BAK files When selected, PowerPPL will create a .BAK file each time a file is saved. This BAK file will contain the previous file, before any changes were made. - Desktop - Auto-Save Desktop When selected, the desktop or project will be automatically saved when exiting PowerPPL - Auto-Load Desktop When selected, the desktop will be automatically loaded when entering PowerPPL. If a single project exist, it will be automatically loaded. - Memory - Swap Before Compile When selected, PowerPPL will swap itself in memory (EMS/XMS/Disk) before compile... - Swap Before Running When selected, PowerPPL will swat itself in memory (EMS/XMS/Disk) before running the PPE. - Swap Before shelling To DOS When selected, PowerPPL will swap itself in memory (EMS/XMS/Disk) before shelling to DOS. - Color - Syntax Highlight When selected, PowerPPL will colorize your code (you may change the color set, see chapter XX. Customizing Colors) - @Xnn Translation When selected, PowerPPL will translate @Xnn code inside the strings by changing the color. Note that you must have selected Syntax Highlight in order to use the @Xnn Translation. 8 Once configured, press enter to confirm. Press F10 to select menu bar. Select "Options" menu. Select "Tab Length" option. Set the tabulation length to whatever you want... 8 or 4 are commonly used values. 9 Managing Projects ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Usually, when working on a PPE, we like to have many files opened in the desktop, this is why the "Save Desktop" option has been created. But we always work on many PPE's in the same time ! And one desktop file was limited to handle one project... So the project management was created... It allows as many projects as you want, that is, in fact, as many desktops as you want... How to create a project ? To create a project, simply press F10, "P" and then "O"... This will brings you a directory listing with all the *.PRJ files... To create a project, simply type it's name (for example "MYPROG") and the project "MYPROG.PRJ" will be created. In addition, the file "MYPROG.PRC" will also be created, containing your project-specific configuration (colors/directories/environment/...) How to load a project ? If you have selected the "AutoLoad Project" option in the Environment setup (see chapter III. First Time Configuration), PowerPPL will search all PRJ files... If only one is found, it will be opened automatically. If more than one is found, the default desktop (when there is no project loaded, so we will call it the "Default project") will be loaded. You will then have to open a project manually. For this, press F10, the "P" and "O". Then select your Project file. How to close a project ? Press F10, "P", then "C" to close the project. the default project will be loaded. 10 Compiling the source file ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are two very similar ways to compile your code, they are only different depending you are working with a project or not. If you are not working with a project, simply bring the file you want to compile on the top of each other windows and press F9... If you are working with a project, your main file HAS to have the same base name that your project, with the extention .PPS. For example, if your project is "MYPROG.PRJ", your main file has to be named "MYPROG.PPS" in order to be compiled. Once you have a corresponding .PPS file, you may press F9 wherever you are in PowerPPL, even if you are currently working on a .CFG file for example, the right .PPS file will be automatically recognized and compiled. Once the compilation is done, the message window will be shown (if there are errors) or will remain hidden (if the compilation was succesful). See section XIX. "The Message Window" for more informations. 11 Running the source file. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To run a source file, simply press CTRL-F9 instead of F9 (Compile). PowerPPL will automatically detect if your file has been modified since the last compile, and will recompile it if needed before running the PPE. To run a PPE you need to put your personnal informations in the "User Info" dialog box. See section III. "First Time Configuration" for more details. 12 Working with ;$INCLUDE files. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A very powerfull function in PPL is the ;$INCLUDE compilation directive. It allows you to include some parts of code that are located in other files that your main file. This function allows you to have librairies. The problem when working with ;$INCLUDE files is that you have to be certain that all your files are up to date on the disk before compiling your code. If not, some old ;$INCLUDE files will be included instead of the current ones. To avoid this problem, we will make a project for ANY PPS that has some ;$INCLUDE statements and then check the Environment option "Save all before compile". With this project, it will be easy to open many files in the same time (main source and all ;$INCLUDE files). When you will press F9 or CTRL-F9, all modified files will be saved so all ;$INCLUDE files will be up to date on disk. 13 Command Line Parameters. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PowerPPL can take some arguments when launched... Here is a typical command line : PP [/NOFLIP] [PROJECT.PRJ] [SOURCE.PPS] - /NOFLIP When PowerPPL is run, if the selected video mode is 25 columns, it begins with a video mode flipping (switch to 50 culumns, then switch back to 25 columns). This speed up the scrolling process, and is needed when using a not_very_fast machine (CPU is < 486 DX2-66). With this trick, the scrolling is smooth enough even on slower machines... The problem is that with some multitasking environments (DESQview), the video mode flipping trash the display. Tipically, a DESQview window will go to 50 columns mode and won't go back to 25 lines until DESQview has been left and rerun...) For this reason, PowerPPL now detects DESQview and does not flip modes if it has been detected... This result with a slower scrolling but this allow you to use PowerPPL with it... If for some reason, you would like PowerPPL not to flip modes at startup, simply use the /NOFLIP parameter, and PowerPPL will not trash your display... Note that if you run only the DOS, you probably don't need this option... Even now, with the DESQview autodetection, you will probably NEVER need this option... PROJECT.PRJ You may load a specified project a startup, just add your project name on the command line and it will be opened automatically... Note that if you have only one project in your directory and if you checked the option "Autoload Project", you don't need this option... SOURCE.PPS You may also load a source file ny typing its name on the command line. 14 Opening A File. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To open a file, press Alt-F to access File Menu, then press O. This will brings you a file listing with a directory browser... You may press F3 instead of using menu... 15 Saving A File. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To save a file, press Alt-F to go to File Menu, then S. The file will be saved with its current name. You may press F2 instead of using menu... If you want to save you file with a new name, press Alt-F to go to File Menu, then A. Specify the new name and optionnaly answer Yes to the question "Overwrite?". 16 Changing Directory. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sometimes, you may want to change the working directory (for example if your PPE create files that you want to be placed on another location for a while...). To change the working directory, Press Alt-F to access the File Menu, then C... Choose the directory you want, then choose the OK button. 17 Shelling To Dos. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you want to process some DOS commands, you don't have to exit PowerPPL then reload it... just shell to DOS... To do this, press Alt-F to access the File Menu, then press D. Depending on your settings, PowerPPL will swap itself in memory, leaving only 220 bytes residents... see chapter III. "First Time Configuration" to see how to turn this option ON. When you come back fron DOS (by typing EXIT on the command line), PowerPPL will eventually move back to the directory and drive where you were before shelling... This avoid further problems when saving & compiling again... 18 Exiting PowerPPL. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To exit PowerPPL type Alt-X anywhere you are... If some files are modified but not saved, you will be prompt to save them... 19 The IDE (Keys). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The PowerPPL editor is a very common editor, it features clipboard, autoindentation, and many other options. It may be compared to the classic Borland TurboVision editor, the one used in all Borland's IDE (Borland C++, Borland Pascal,...) Here is an overview of the keys that may be pressed while editing a file... F1...................................Help CTRL-F1..............................Help on keyword ALT-F1...............................Call back last Help screen F2...................................Save current file F3...................................Load new file ALT-F3...............................Close Window F5...................................Zoom ALT-F5...............................User Screen F6...................................Next Window F9...................................Make PPE file (Compile) CTRL-F9..............................Run PPE file (PCB 15.2+) F10..................................Menus Alt-X................................Quit Alt-n................................Jump to Window #n Alt-?................................Menu Shortcuts Alt-W + M............................Message Window Alt-Space............................System Menu CTRL-P...............................Activate "Any key" mode Alt-Y................................Toggle @Xnn Translation Alt-M................................Open ASCII Chart Alt-A................................Open @Xnn Pick Chart CTRL-F4..............................Open Zippy Search Box CTRL-F6..............................Add a Tag CTRL-F7..............................Tag List CTRL-F8..............................Next Tag. Overview of keys that may be pressed when a text block is selected : Ctrl-Ins.............................Put in clipboard Shift-Del............................Put in clipboard & delete Shift-Ins............................Paste from clipboard Del/Ctrl-Del.........................Remove text CTRL-I...............................Indent block CTRL-U...............................Unindent block (Indentation & Unindentation works only with SPACES... a CTRL-U will NOT unindent Tabs...) 20 The Clipboard. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The clipboard may be accessed via the Edit Menu by pressing Alt-E then S. The clipboard window will show everything that has been used inside the clipboard... This allow you to take back your old clipboard buffers... To change the current clipboard contents, simply select the part you want to be used and return to you source window... 21 Searching / Replacing Text. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To search for a specified string within your source, bring the Search menu by pressing Alt-S, then F. To replace a string by another string, use the "Replace" submenu by pressing Alt-S then R. To execute again the laste search or replace, use the Search Again submenu, by pressing Alt-S then S (CTRL-L is a shortcut). 22 Setting Compilation Arguments. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PowerPPL allows you to have total control over the PPLC switches (/NOUVAR & /DISARR) through a dialog box called "Compiler Options". You may access this box by pressing Alt-C (Compile Menu) then P (Parameters). There are two options : Array Dimention Checking This option allow the compiler to check for mistakes using the statement REDIM. for example : DIM TABLE(5,5,5) ... REDIM TABLE,10,10 This will generate an error unless Array Dimension Checking has been disabled. User Variable Generation This allow the PPE to generate the user variables (U_...()) when starting... disable this option if you don't want to have the work done. Usually, there is no need to change anything... both options may be checked unless you have reasons to change that. 23 Resizing / moving Windows. ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You may want to resize you windows, espacially if you work with many files on a big project... If you have a mouse, simply click on the low right corner of you window and drag the window size to what you need. To move you window, click on the editor title bar and drag the window to your new location. If you have no mouse, press CTRL-F5 to resize you window. the border style will change to a single line, indicating that you are now changing the window size & place. Press left & right arrows to move the window, press Shift-Left or Shift-Right arrows to resize the window. When your project is saved, all windows will be saved with their respective sizes & positions. 24 The Message Window. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The message window may be access by pressing Alt-W (Window menu) then M (Message Window). The message window holds all the system messages. this means that you will find here all errors reported by PPLC, and also aother messages such as "Can't find PCBOARD.EXE at specified location" (shown when a wrong pathname is specified). When the message window contains the errors, moving on a line automatically brings the corresponding source line provided that the corresponding source file is loaded (because PPLC does not report path when errors occurs in ;$INCLUDE files, it is not possible to open a new editor when an error occurs on a closed source file) 25 The TagList Window. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The taglist window may be access by pressing CTRL-F7. The taglist window holds all your tags (created by CTRL-F6). To Go back to a revioulsy saved location, just open the Tag List window and then choose the tag to use. You may move your tags through your code by pressing the + and - keys from the numeric keypad. Keys available : Del.....................Delete a tag Grey +/Grey -...........Shift the tag Down/Up/Home/End........Move the selection bar Enter...................Jump to the code window CTRL-F8 Allows you to jump from a tag to the next without entering the taglist window. 26 Customizing Colors. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You may customize any PowerPPL system color. This include all windows, menus, syntax highlight and desktop. To access the color editor, press Alt-O (Options menu) then C (customize colors). This brings you a color edition dialog box. Move thrue the items and selected the desired colors. Press OK when you are done, the color sheme will be updated as soon as you leave the dialog box. You may restore the default colors by using the submenu "Default Colors" (Alt-O then D). 27 Setting Environment Options. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ See chapter III. "First Time Configuration". 28 Setting Tabulation Length. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Press Alt-O (Options menu) the T (Tab Length) to set the Tabulation length. Commonly used values are 4 and 8. 29 Saving / Retreiving the environment. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NOTE : Those options are only needed if you didn't checked the "AutoLoad project" & "AutoSave Project" in the Environment options submenu. See capter III. "First Time Configuration" for more details. To save the current window positions and sizes, and the current Environment options, colors, directories, compiler options, and all other configuration components, use the "Save Desktop" option by pressing Alt-O (Options menu) then S (save Desktop). To retreive a previously saved desktop, choose "Retrieve Desktop". If you are working with a project, this will load the project depending desktop file. If you are not working with a project, this will load the default project desktop. To load a project, please refer to chapter IV. "Managing Projects". 30 Using Help. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Help may be accessed by different ways. Using the Help Menu you will have the opportunity to choose the topic you want to see. You may access directly the contents (PowerPPL help), the Help Index (PPL help), or you may also choose to see again your last topic. You may press F1 wherever you are in an editor to get the PowerPPL help. You may press also CTRL-F1 to get help on the keyword found under your cursor. A full help on all PPLC 3.10 statements and functions is available. To move between topics inside the help viewer, use your arrow keys. Move your cursor to choose your topic. You may also type the first letters of a topic, as in Borland IDE Help systems. Press Alt-F1 anytime to get your last Help topic. Shift-F1 brings you the Help index (PPL help). 31 Performing a Zippy Text Search in Help. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A very powerfull function is the Zippy text search. By pressing CTRL-F4, you get a dialog box asking you for a string to find within the help file... press enter and PowerPPL will search this string inside all help topics. This may take some time depending on your CPU power (about 13s with a 486 dx-25, about 4s with a 486 dx/4-100) Once the Zippy text search has been performed, a list box appears and shows you a list of concerned items. press enter on whatever item you want to view... when leaving the help, you will get back the list. Press Esc to leave. 32 The Ascii Table / The @Xnn Pick Chart. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The ASCII Table. The ascii table may be accessed via the System Menu (Alt-Space) or by pressing Alt-M. Move to the char you need, then press ENTER or INSERT to insert the character into the editor at the cursor location. You may also use the ascii window to see the Decimal and Hex values of a char. The @Xnn Pick Chart. The @Xnn pick chart may be accessed from the system menu (Alt- Space) or by pressing ALT-A. Move to the color you need, then press ENTER or INSERT to insert the color code into the editor at the cursor location... You may also use the @Xnn pick chart to see the Hex value of a color code. 33 The Calculator. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The calculator is a simple four-function calculator with add, substract, multiply, and divide. To operate the calculator, you can either use the keybord or press the buttons on the calculator with the mouse. The C key clears the calculator, the backspace will erase the last character typed, and the "+/-" key toggle the value from positive to negative (the keyboard equivalent of "+/-" is "_"). 34 The Calendar. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Calendar displays the current month, highlighting todays date. The next and previous months can be viewed using the "+" or "-" keys respectively. The mouse can also be used to change the month by pressing the up and down icons. 35 Changing Video Mode to 50 Lines. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Access the System menu by pressing Alt-Space, then select the Video Mode submenu. This will toggle video mode from 25 lines to 50. NOTE : You may experience troubles if you use the 50 lines option with DESQview. 36 The About Box. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The About box displays the PowerPPL version. If PowerPPL is registered (by sending a postcard), it displays also the registration's owner. 37 Troubleshooting. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Q1> When i try to run a PPE, PowerPPL says "PCBOARD.EXE not found at specified location" A> Check your directories settings (Options/Directories) Q2> When i try to compile a PPS, PowerPPL says "Not enough memory to allocate script memory buffer" A> Check the option "Swap when compile". (Options/Environment) Q3> I tried to move the file header in another location within the file, but PowerPPL creates another one at the beginning. A> PowerPPL scan only the 10 first lines of each file for a header. if none has been found, it creates a new one, placing it at the beginning of your file. Q4> Why PowerPPL does not create header for my .INC file. A> PowerPPL only creates headers for *.PP? files. Try to rename your include file as *.PPI for example. Q5> When i try to run a PPE, a message saying "Unable to open PCBOARD.DAT, Exiting to DOS!" appears. A> Check your directories settings (Options/Directories). Be carefull to put only PATH when a path is asked and to put PATH & FILE when a pathname is asked. If you cannot find the way to fix your problem, please read the entire doc & whatsnew files before contacting me. After doing so, if your problem is still here, write to powerppl@nuxes.frmug.fr.net 38 Getting Your FREE Keyfile. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cardware costs ONLY the prize on the STAMP ! To get your personnal keyfile, just send me a postcard, with your first and lastname, or your handle and group. On you postcard, you can add up to 2 lines (158 chars) of BBS advertising. Those lines will be added to a file called THANKYOU.ALL and will be included in the next release of PowerPPL ! People sending more than 2 postcards will have their names in this file in the next version of PowerPPL !! Great he? :) Send your postcard(s) to : Francis Gastellu 42 Bd de Stalingrad 94500 Champigny Sur Marne FRANCE If you have an email address (no FIDO!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Write it down on your card so i will be able to send your keyfile as soon as i get your card! If you wrote your email address, and if you did not received your keyfile long time, say one month, after sending it, it is possible that i cannot reach you with email (sometimes domains cannot be found... ahhh... internet... ;)). In this case, follow the procedure as if you did not mention your email address on the card... If you don't have an email address ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Once you sent your postcard, wait 15 days and call the support BBS : UNDERGROUND CAFÉ +33-1-48.82.25.81 (up to 28.800bds) Use the EXACT firstname and lastname (or handle and groupname) you mailed me. When i'll receive your postcard, i'll add you to a waiting list so you'll get your keyfile without the need to register the BBS or to answer any questionnaire. ! No Keyfile will be sent without receiving a postcard first ! 39 Once you have copied your keyfile in PowerPPL directory, any nasty reminder box will be removed ! Please, do it, so I will know how usefull this software is... If I receive many postcards, I will keep working on PowerPPL for next releases... 40 PPE Groups Offer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WARNING ! This section apply only if you are part of a PPE Group ! Obviously, CDC ignores groups like PWA, DOD, SCUM, AEGiS and all other PPE Groups that made their software reputation. For this reason, I will make it easier for GROUPS to have a fully functionnal version of PowerPPL, so they can continue to develop utilities for sysops that can understand why we make such utilities... It is not (like CDC) for money because we don't get any... It is not for fame because what is a PPE compared to a real program ? It is for only one reason : CHALLENGE. Since now 2/3 years, PPL programming has been available. Since 2/3 years now, Groups made thousands of products that even CDC never though it was possible to do. When CDC realized that they didn't have full control over the expension of PCBoard, they simply engage WAR with them, spreading the rumour that a PPE Group is always and only composed by PIRATES! how stupid! Well, group names like Pirates With Attitude or other PPE Group names are not politically correct, even if many of the guyz that made the PPE's surely never cracked any software. Some of them are even PCBoard registered users... Why do i tell you that ? Simply because i want you to understand why i make this group offer, i want to make it easier for groups to make new quality products. And if you are not part of a group, if you are just a sysop, affraid of hearing the words "PPE Group", well, get a life ! Think by yourself ! Just know that there are many PPE's out there from many groups... All of them are TOTALLY LEGAL, they surely match your needs as we often make customizable products. They will enhance your board in a way you have never imagined. And if you still don't agree with the Group philosophy, then... i cannot do anything for you... SPECiAL GROUPS OFFER If you are a PPE Coder attached to a group, the way to get you keyfile is really easy : Contact your group leader (or you PPE section leader) and ask him to mail me a message asking for a keyfile pack. In this message, he will have to put the names of all the PPE coders. If some guyz only have ONE name (such as Gandalf from AEGiS), i will make a keyfile for his name folowed by the group name unless something else is requested. A registration keyfile can only be generated with two names (i know that sux but... ;)). 41 So if you don't want your group name as a second name, specify something! Example of PPE Group keyfile request as it would be done by the AEGiS leader : --------------------------------------------------------------- Hi, i'm the leader of AEGiS CoRP, some of our PPE coders use PowerPPL, and they think that this cardware box suxx ;) Instead of cracking the software, we email you a list of all our PPE coders, so they can work easily on new prods, as you told it was possible in the PowerPPL documentation, according to the Group Offer. List of our PPE coders : Number Six Lone Runner Gandalf Micropoint Darkmoon Carcass All single name coders can have a keyfile for "xxxxx AEGiS". Thanks! Number Six/AEGiS --------------------------------------------------------------- Well, this is ONLY AN EXAMPLE ! i won't mind if the message does not have the exact same words... In fact, i HATE when people just edit a pre-existing example... be creative! ;) Post your mail in one of this way : - powerppl@nuxes.frmug.fr.net - lone.runner@nuxes.frmug.fr.net - aegis.corp@nuxes.frmug.fr.net - lone.runner at 2:320/305.7 - Underground Café - +33-1-4882-2581, mail to Lone Runner - THE DEADLINE - +33-1-4648-6763 - mail to Lone Runner - A.C.E - +33-1-4588-7548 - mail to Lone Runner - ELECTRON BBS - +33-1-6939-4630 mail to Sysop, he will forward 42 Becoming a Beta-Tester. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sorry but, due to the fact that PowerPPL gets already too much of my time, i cannot manage a expanding betatesters list. For this reason, the betatest team is frozen, as all members of it are people i can get in touch easily and fast. The Beta-Testing Team ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Olivier Langlois Number Six/AEGiS Gandalf/AEGiS Stephane Boullet Jason Bourne/AEGiS Turbo-D/TRiLOXY Spead Freak/TRiLOXY 43 Becoming a Distro Site. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As PowerPPL is now an AEGiS CoRP Production, AEGiS distribution sites automatically become PowerPPL distribution sites. If you want to be a distribution site for PowerPPL, send a mail to aegis.corp@nuxes.frmug.fr.net asking for a distro site. This will be forwarded to Number Six that manage and check the distribution sites requests. You can also log on his BBS. All informations for becoming a distribution site for AEGiS should be found in the file AEGIS.NFO. 44 Suggestions, Remarks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bug reports, suggestions and remarks are welcome and may be sent via e-mail to powerppl@nuxes.frmug.fr.net 45 Getting New Versions. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can get all new versions of PowerPPL, by calling those BBS's : THE DEADLINE +33-1-4648-6763 +33-1-4644-5796 A.C.E +33-1-4588-7548 +33-1-4588-8809 UNDERGROUND CAFÉ +33-1-4882-2581 ELECTRON +33-1-6939.4630 +33-1-6939.3152 You *may* also get PowerPPL from the FTP : wuarchive.wustl.edu [128.252.135.4] /pub/msdos_uploads/ppe Mailing list. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you want, you can subscribe to the AEGiS MAiLiNG LiST, just send a message to ferem@nuxes.frmug.fr.net, telling you want so. Each time a new AEGiS product is released, you will get a message. 46 Thanks & Greetz. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks to the following people for their suggestions & support. ■ Olivier Langlois Special Thanks to you for all this time and work you spent for supporting PowerPPL on your BBS, as well as collecting the postcards and betatesting, almost from the first release to this one. ■ Gandalf/AEGiS Thanks for all this betatest "in situ" :) Hope you like the new help system you asked me for so long... :) ■ Turbo-D & Speed Freak /TRiLOXY Speed Freak, watch closely Turbo-Drunk... he's taking the vodka bottle! :) ■ Number Six Ga? ! :) ■ Chicken/Tools4Fools Yes... yes... i understdood the magic of """" ;)) ■ Qube/Tools4Fools Hope to see you again in a next party dude! ■ ALF, the so-called "Anti"-Lamers-Fondation So guys... Are you gonna crack this one also ? Or just release it just changing some strings in the exe file as if it was an ALF product ? Just answer a question : what's the point to crack a free software ? Does ALF stands for Actually Lamers Fondation ? ■ The Guardian Angel Hmm... The serial number generator was really easy to make he ? :) 47 Copyrights. ~~~~~~~~~~~ PowerPPL is Copyright (C)1994,95,96 Lone Runner/AEGiS CoRP(tm) DESQview is Copyright(C) Quarterdeck Office Systems PCBoard & PPLC are Copyright(C) Clark Development Company, Inc TurboVision is Copyright(C) Borland International MSDOS is Copyright(C) Microsoft Corporation The PowerPPL installation program uses the original FrontDoor Look&Feel by Joaquim Homrighausen. It has been used after asking permission. FrontDoor is Copyright(C) Joaquim Homrighausen All Softwares and Trademarks listed are exclusive property of their owners. 48 Disclaimer. ~~~~~~~~~~~ This program has been tested on many computer and has always worked perfectly, but I cannot garantee that it will be the same on yours... It is totally excluded that this software destructs anything on your system, but, because we never take enough care : IN NO EVENT WILL I (THE AUTHOR) BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY.