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Release Date: Aug-16-1991 Product: NeuralWorks Professional II Plus, NeuralWorks Explorer, User-Defined Neuro-Dynamics, Release ID: 4.05 Platform: IBM PC compatible NEC PC-9801 nw2.exe: 80286 (80287 optional but recommended) nw2x.exe: 80386 or 80486 with 80387 coprocessor. Graphics: Hercules monochrome display EGA VGA Extended CGA (Toshiba 3100 and AT&T 6300) NEC PC-9801 Memory: 640K + 1MB extended memory Disk Space: 4 MB + additional space for storing your network files. ----- INTRODUCTION ----- If this is your first experience with Neural Networks, welcome to the world of Neural Computing. NeuralWorks Professional II Plus is a very powerful Neural Computing tool that allows you to experiment with different architectures and paradigms to prototype solutions to real world problems; in fact our Applied Technology group uses NeuralWorks Professional II Plus, together with the companion products Designer Pack and User-Defined Neuro-Dynamics, for all their consulting projects. In addition to its variety of easy-to-use standard features, NeuralWorks Professional II Plus has many areas which can be significantly customized, including modifying the extensive analysis tools, writing your own control strategy to describe how data flows through the network, defining your own generic architectures, and writing your own C program to get data into and out of your network. NeuralWorks Explorer is an educational tool which is a subset of Professional II Plus. A summary of main differences between Explorer and Professional II Plus is given in the first chapter of the Reference Guide. User-Defined Neuro-Dynamics is an advanced extension of NeuralWorks Professional II Plus which allows you to write your own neuro-dynamics equations in C code and link them in to produce a customized version of the product. The above products run on a variety of platforms including MacIntosh, IBM-PC and compatibles, SUN workstations, IBM RS6000, Cogent XTM and others. NeuralWorks is built from a core set of source code common to all platforms. From a developer's point of view, this allows for faster development, maintenance and testing of new and existing features, which in turn benefits you, the user, in terms of more stable products and more knowledgable technical support. Also, having a common interface across platforms allows you to switch between platforms without learning a new interface. ----- DOCUMENTATION ----- Four volumes of documentation accompany this release: (1) System Guide - Platform specific information such as installation and file list. (ii) Using NWorks - A tutorial taking you step by step through most of the main features of the product. It is strongly recommended that you use this as your introduction to the product. (iii) Reference Guide - Provides detailed information about the product's commands, tools, dialog boxes and functions. It also details network architecture, User IO programs, control strategies, and other internal functions of the software. (iv) Neural Computing - Authoritative reference on the history and theory of neural networks. Includes detailed descriptions of the standard paradigms supported by NeuralWorks. If you are updating from a previous release of NeuralWorks please follow the update procedures in the System Guide for PC versions. NeuralWorks Professional II Plus, User-Defined Neuro-Dynamics, and Designer Pack for all IBM Platforms come on 5.25" 1.2MB or 3.5" 1.44 MB floppy diskettes. Instructions for loading the product are described briefly on the label with additional information in the "System Guide" specific to your computer. ----- UPDATING FROM VERSION 4.0X TO VERSION 4.05 ----- Update just as you would load a new product as documented in the System Guide. File names have stayed the same since the previous release, so if you load into the same directory as your current version, only previously shipped files will be overwritten. If you have changed any of the standard NeuralWorks or UDND files, you should save these before loading the new version. IMPORTANT: If you are a User-Defined Neuro-Dynamics user make sure any work you have done is not saved as usermstd.c. usermstd.c is the standard prototype usermath.c and is overwritten on loading. It is also advisable that you save any usermath.c file to different filename. ----- HARDWARE COMPATIBILTY ----- This release (4.05) includes both an 80286 Protected mode version of the software (nw2.exe or nwe.exe) and, for NeuralWorks Professional II Plus, a 80386/80387 Protected mode version (nw2x.exe). Due to compiler inadequacies beyond NeuralWare's control there is not currently a 80386/Weitek version of NeuralWorks Professional II Plus, and it is not clear at this time when these problems will be resolved; however there is some limited Weitek coprocessor support in the 80386/80387 Protected mode version as described later in this Readme file. The 80286 protected mode versions of Professional II Plus and Explorer do not require a coprocessor, but it is strongly recommended that you have one. The 80386/80387 requires an 80387 or compatible math coprocessor. Some 80286 machines which are capable of running at speeds faster than normal ATs (e.g 16Mz or 20MHz) and which have a floating point coprocessor may require using the machine's BIOS set up program to insert a wait state in order to synchronize the processor and the coprocessor. The 80286 protected mode versions use the OS286 kernal from Ergo Computing, Inc. The kernal supports most 80286 computers without modification. If, however, the message "OS286: BIOS checksum does not match" is displayed, or a General Protection Fault occurs, when you start NeuralWorks, the kernal must be reconfigured. Type tune -i -k nw2.exe <Enter> (Professional II Plus) tune -i -k nwe.exe <Enter> (Explorer) to modify the kernal. Some machines require the configuration to be forced. The NEC PC/9801 requires: tune -f04/04/07/0/4 -k nw2.exe (Professional II Plus) If you still have problems, please contact the NeuralWare Technical Support department for assistance. Similarly, the 80386 protected mode version of NeuralWorks uses the OS386 kernal from Ergo Computing, Inc. If the message "OS386: BIOS checksum does not match" is displayed, or a General Protection Fault occurs, when you start NeuralWorks, the kernal must be reconfigured. Type tune -i -k nw2x.exe <Enter> If you can run Lotus 1-2-3 release 3.0, you should be able to run NeuralWorks Professional II Plus without modification. ----- COMPATIBILTY WITH OTHER SOFTWARE ----- Many of our customers install memory managers for use with other software. The compatibility or incompatibility of NeuralWorks Professional II Plus with these memory managers is largely a function of the OS286/OS386 kernal provided by Ergo Computing, Inc. and the memory managers themselves. We have tested our product with several of the most popular memory managers. NeuralWorks Professional II Plus does not run under MicroSoft's Windows 3.0. It also does not run under Digital Research's DR-DOS 5.0 memory manager at the time of this release although Digital claim to have an upcoming release (5.1) which will be fully VCPI compatible and consequently should be compatible with NeuralWorks Professional II Plus. It DOES run under Quarterdeck's QEMM, and Qualitas' 386MAX (version 4.07). ----- DOS 3.20 FLOATING POINT BUG ----- There is a well-known bug in DOS 3.20 which may cause improper operation of NeuralWorks Professional II Plus if a floating point exception is generated. If this problem should occur, contact your hardware manufacturer or supplier to see if an appropriate patch is available. ---- OTHER KNOWN BUGS & PROBLEMS ---- (1) "nw2x.exe" aborts it you attempt to run it while SideKick 2 is memory resident. This may be a problem with other memory resident programs as well. Work around: Unload SideKick & other memory resident programs. (2) Windows related problems: a) SMRTDRV.SYS disk cache driver allocates the MAXIMUM amount when running without windows. Make sure that the maximum is set to leave at least 1 MB free space. b) Windows does NOT require an external mouse driver. Make sure that you have installed the "mouse.com" or "mouse.sys" which came with your mouse. (3) Hercules Monochrome Graphics Adapters. Certain "clone" cards will appear to "lose sync" when NeuralWorks (nwe, nw2, nw2x) is started. If this occurs, make sure that the driver which came with the card is properly installed. (4) User I/O problems: PutFmt does not work properly. Use the following: char buf[80]; sprintf( buf, fmt, args ); PutStr( buf ); (5) Certain 486 machines (A20 problem): nw2, nw2x, nwe will crash. Running "tune" does not seem to help. Ergo is working on the problem. No "fix date" set. ----- ART 1 AND FUNCTIONAL LINK NETWORKS ----- Due to ongoing concerns with patent infringements, ART 1 (Adaptive Resonance Theory 1) and Functional Link Network support are shipped on separate disks. At any given time, these might be shipped by us or by the patent claimants depending on the current state of negotiations. Please contact NeuralWare if you need more information about support for these paradigms. ----- CHANGES FROM VERSION 4.04 TO VERSION 4.05 ----- (1) Doing an Add Connection operation after an Edit Connection operation would cause the system to crash. This is now fixed. (2) The LVQ control strategy "lvq.nnc" has been fixed so that the current error field contains the correct value. You will now be able to use an RMS error graph on the output. If you have existing LVQ networks, you should load them, load the new control strategy through the Network/Load Control Strategy menu option, and then save your network. (3) The LVQ InstaNet has been modified to deal with large numbers of input PEs. (4) A ug_test() option is now available for user control programs. (5) A return code UIO_EXIT is available for UserIO programs which want to terminate execution gracefully rather than aborting (UIO_ERROR). (6) Support for the Japanese NEC PC/9801 is integrated into the product. NeuralWorks automatically tests whether it is running on the NEC/9801 or not; however, if for some reason, presence or lack of an NEC/9801 occurs erroneously, the "-jon" or "-joff" command line switch can be used. Special tuning must be done if you plan to run on an NEC/9801 as described earlier in this readme file. (7) Math co-processor problems: For previous versions of NeuralWorks there were problems with certain BIOSes (ATI and Award among them) which would cause a floating point exception error whenever certain networks were run. We believe this problem to be solved; it was apparently due to the combination of a Microsoft C Compiler optimization switch, the ERGO OS286 kernel, and the particular BIOS. If there is still a problem, you can, as a last resort, disable the coprocessor by: setting the NO87 environment variable as follows (however) this drastically slows things down: set NO87=_ (8) User-Defined Neuro-Dynamics Error functions are now selectable in the Layer Edit/Add dialog box. ----- CHANGES FROM VERSION 4.01 TO VERSION 4.04 ----- (1) A number of shortcomings in the Cascade correlation paradigm have been fixed; certain information was lost on saving these networks and loading one cascade correlation network on top of another produced unpredictable results. (2) The Delta-Bar-Delta InstaNet "dbd.ins" has been modified to use a hyperbolic tangent transfer function rather than a sigmoid. This is more useful for real world applications. The default schedule "dbd.nnt" has also been modified to produce more reasonable values. You should save copies of the old "dbd.ins" and "dbd.nnt" if you prefer the old defaults. (3) Doing a Recall or Test on a Directed Random Search network would corrupt some of the learning parameters. This has been fixed. (4) Gaussian noise functions now work properly. (5) For Directed Random Search networks and Extended Delta-Bar-Delta networks, certain parameters representing the current state of the network were not being saved; if partially trained networks were saved, they could not be loaded and have training continued. This is now fixed. (6) For Directed Random Search networks, initializing a network now automatically sets default initial variances; if you want different initial variances, you should explicitly load your own L/R schedule after initialization. This is different from previously when you had to explicitly load the default DRS schedule, or your own DRS schedule prior to initializing. (7) For UDND users, L/R schedules are now accessible on an Initialize call to the user routine. (8) There is now an 80386/80387 version of the NeuralWorks Professional II Plus (nw2x.exe) which is significantly faster than the 80286 version (nw2.exe). Due to circumstances beyond NeuralWare's control there is currently no 80386/Weitek version available. However, users who have BOTH an 80387 AND Weitek coprocessor can make use of some hand coded math routines by using the -w command line switch: nw2x -w This can speed up learning by more than a factor of 2 for medium to large networks. nw2x.exe supports up to 10000 processing elements. (9) Support for EXTENDED CGA (Toshiba 3100 and AT&T 6300), mono EGA, and mono VGA displays has been added. (10) The option for loading data files to RAM now works properly. (11) UserIO programs now correctly pass desired output data to NeuralWorks in test mode. ---- CHANGES FROM VERSION 3.95 OR PREVIOUS ---- These changes are documented in the PC System Guide accompanying this release. Some of the new features which you might want to work with include: - Extended Tutorial (takes 4-8 hours and provides an excellent working knowledge of NeuralWorks Professional II Plus). - Iconic menus for editing PEs, Layers, etc. - Double click on instrument or PE to edit it. Double click in an empty network area to edit I/O parameters. - FlashCode (Run/Flashcode) for creating immediate executables. - ExplainNet (Run/Explain Now) for determining the most important inputs to your network for the current output. Help for menu and dialogs is available from "HELP" button or F1. Help for Iconic menus is obtained by double clicking on the "sub-mode" box at the top of the iconic menu bar. ----- UPDATING PRODUCTS FROM VERSION 3.95 OR PREVIOUS ----- The installation batch file will create an NW2V40 directory in the specified target drive. Copy over any work which you may have in the original nworks directory to the new one. Professional II Plus can read ASCII format files from versions 2.00 through 3.95. Binary files are NOT compatible. To convert your binary files so that they can be read by NeuralWorks Professional II Plus: A:\HARD A: C: # Load new product (do this for each # of the supplied disks). This will create # an NW2V40 directory in the specified # target drive (C: in this case) CD \NWORKS # change to old directory NWORKS # run old product # load network, then save it in "ASCII". # exit from NWORKS. COPY \NWORKS\NET.NND \NW2V40 # copy the ASCII network into the new directory When you create the new product directory, make sure that you change your environment variable (NWORKS) to point to it. See the System Guide for more detailed information. For those of you who have purchased Designer Pack, it is particularly important that you create a new product directory and use ONLY IT. Very major changes have been made to Designer Pack, including the format of network files that it uses, the organization of source files, header files, etc. Designer Pack ONLY works with ASCII format network files. See the Designer Pack documentation for more details. If you load an old network, make sure to go to the I/O Parameters Dialog and check the box "Learn/Load into Ram". This will load the training file into memory (providing you have enough memory). It makes training much faster and avoids over-taxing your hard disk drive. For more details, see the Reference Guide. User I/O has been completely re-written; however, there is a compatibility mode. Old User I/O programs MUST be re-compiled using the "uioc_XXX.bat" batch file (where XXX represents the appropriate compiler identifier - msc for Microsoft C, ztc for Zortech C, and tcc for Turbo C). New User I/O routines (incorporating the new style interface) should be compiled with the appropriate "uio_XXX.bat" batch file. The interface has been re-written to make User I/O look more like remote procedure calls. For individuals who purchase User-Defined Neuro-Dynamics, there is an option which allows you to directly link a User I/O program into "nw2". This provides the ultimate in performance for situations which require very high speed interface with the custom I/O function. This will be available late 1991. The User I/O programs which have been converted to the new style are: sundayio.c, noiseio.c, userio.c, uctlio.c, usercio.c, and artio.c. ----- SOFTWARE PROTECTION DEVICES ----- For Users of NeuralWorks Professional II/Plus and Designer Pack outside of the United States, the product is copy protected using a special device which plugs into the parallel port. Refer to the System Guide for PC versions for more information. ----- TECHNICAL SUPPORT PROCEDURES ----- If you are having problems with installing the product, please make sure you have read this Readme file and the appropriate chapters in the System Guide carefully. This of course also holds true for executing and using the product. If you are still having problems, contact NeuralWare at 412-787-8222. Free technical assistance is available for 60 days from the shipping date. After that time, registered users of the product must have purchased a maintenance agreement, sold on a yearly basis. Technical Assistance is available between the hours of 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time weekdays, excluding major holidays. Please have your software serial number ready (printed on the disks, and displayed in the Network/Parameters dialog box), as well as your name and company. Technical Support can only be given to the individual whose name appears on the maintenance agreement. If you find that the individual whose name is on the maintenance agreement is no longer using the software, you may want to consider having the name updated to another more appropriate user. Users with a maintenance agreement also automatically receive product upgrades during the year. In addition to technical support, NeuralWare also offers consulting services on a cost basis. Our consulting staff is always willing to discuss particular applications you might have.