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- ZIPKEY, V1.08e Copyright 1990 Eric Isaacson.
- All rights reserved.
-
- ZIPKEY.OVL Copyright 1989 Eric Isaacson.
- All rights reserved.
-
- Eric Isaacson Software
- 416 East University Ave.
- Bloomington, IN 47401-4739
- (812)339-1811
-
- This diskette contains the ZIPKEY zipcode directory and keyboard
- enhancement program. Please feel free to distribute the program
- by uploading it to bulletin-board systems, and by copying and
- distributing the diskette to anyone interested.
-
- The file ZIPKEY.EXE is a preliminary copy of the next release of
- the software. If this version doesn't work for you, I have also
- provided Z10.EXE, the last "official" release version of ZIPKEY.
- Be sure to let me know if you have problems with the V1.08
- ZIPKEY.
-
- You can run the program by putting ZIPKEY.EXE and ZIPKEY.OVL
- into your current directory, and typing ZIPKEY to the MS-DOS
- command prompt.
-
-
- What's New In This Version
-
- ZIPKEY is already a big success since its initial release this
- past spring. I have not only gotten a large number of
- registrations, but also some useful feature-requests and problem
- reports. In this version I have added a much-requested feature:
- the the ability to uninstall ZIPKEY without rebooting the
- machine. I have also gotten ZIPKEY to work with a variety of
- programs with which V1.0 had problems: Microsoft Word 4.0, Lotus
- 123, FANSI-CONSOLE on an EGA, Desqview, Quarterdeck's LOADHI
- loader, Carousel, graphics programs, and programs and device
- drivers that call DOS in the background. That last category
- reflects a serious bug in MS-DOS, (not ZIPKEY!) whose symptom was
- the intermittent crashing of the computer, every dozen or so
- zipcode lookups. This version works its way around this MS-DOS
- bug.
-
- And, of course, the data itself is updated every month. The
- evaluation data is constrained to be at least six months old, so
- that you're now getting the data provided to registered users
- this past spring.
-
-
- File Name Conventions for BBS Uploading
-
- If you distribute files in a compressed format, using PKZIP,
- ARC, ZOO, or a similar program, I recommend that the evaluation
- ZIPKEY.EXE file and the manual ZIPKEY.DOC be packed together
- into one file, and the ZIPKEY.OVL file be provided as a second
- file.
-
- If you are a BBS sysop, with the ability to delete files on your
- BBS, you can maintain the single name ZIPKEY for the package.
- The compressed EXE-and-manual file can have the extension (.ZIP,
- .ARC, etc.) reflecting the compressing program used. The OVL
- file can keep its name ZIPKEY.OVL. ZIPKEY.OVL does not need to
- be compressed-- it's already so compact that there is little or
- no further gain from compression.
-
- If you are uploading to a BBS on which you cannot delete the
- previous version, I suggest that the names contain the version
- information. The EXE-and-manual file should be named ZKxx, where
- xx is the ZIPKEY.EXE version number -- for example, ZK10.ARC for
- ZIPKEY V1.0e. The ZIPKEY.OVL file should be stored using a
- compression program (not for the compression, which is minimal,
- but so that the file will be named ZIPKEY.OVL again when it is
- extracted). The compressed OVL file should be named ZKmmyy,
- where mm is the 2-digit month and yy is the year of the ZIPKEY
- database -- for example, ZK0988.ARC for the September, 1988
- version of the data.
-
- Here are sample directory lines for ARC files, including
- recommended comment lines:
-
- ZK108.ARC ZIPKEY zipcode dir V1.08 prog/doc,1 of 2
- ZK0789.ARC ZIPKEY.OVL 07/89 zipcode data, 2 of 2
-
- Note that the data file does NOT contain the program version
- number in its comment line. I will be releasing new data files
- more often than new program versions, so that the data file is
- not married to the program version number. People will be able
- to download new data files even if they already have the latest
- program version.
-
-