Liren Large Software Subsidy 9/09.iso/e/e200/1.ddi/MAT/READ.ME

Text File | 1988-04-13 | 7.3 KB | 193 lines

ASYSTANT Version 1.10

File: READ.ME

Purpose:  This file contains information about the use of
ASYSTANT that is not included in the user's manual.  We
encourage you to print this document and insert it in your
manual.

Topics covered:
     I.   What's new in ASYSTANT 1.10
     II.  Various utilities that can be used with ASYSTANT
     III. Bugs addressed in this release


I. What's new in ASYSTANT 1.10

Documentation

The ASYSTANT manuals have been reprinted for this release of the
software.  Therefore, this read.me file doesn't contain a section
on updates to the documentation as most ASYSTANT read me files do.

Copy Protection

The ASYSTANT is no longer copy protected.  Neither the "block" or
the "fingerprint" on the Key Diskette is required to boot the software.
All references to copy protection have been removed from the manuals.


Memory Usage (Expanded Memory)

Two features have been added to the ASYSTANT to address the memory
constraints that have existed in the past.  These two additions are
heap autosizing and expanded memory support.

Heap autosizing
The ASYSTANT now has an algorithm that will "autosize" the two internal
heap areas that contain unnamed arrays and variables.  This means that
the ASYSTANT is able to boot in less memory than before, and if more
memory is available after boot, it will make use of it.  Specifically,
ASYSTANT 1.04 required 560K to boot, and never used any more memory
than that.  ASYSTANT 1.10 will require 425K to boot, but will then
determine how much memory is left after it has loaded in, and split
that memory between the two heaps.  The default size of the heaps are
each 32K, allowing 32K for unnamed arrays and 32K for variables if
only 425K is available.

Expanded Memory
The ASYSTANT can now make use of expanded memory via any expanded
memory manager (EEM) that adheres to the Lotus-Intel-Microsoft (LIM)
standard.  The expanded memory manager should be loaded in when the
CONFIG.SYS file is executed during system boot (see the installation
manual for your EMM for additional information).  The ASYSTANT will
detect if you have expanded memory loaded in your system and if so
will use it to store the Variables R-Z.  This is done automatically
for you; you use the ASYSTANT just as you would without expanded
memory.  If you have expanded memory, the system will allocate all
of the memory that remains in the base 640K to the unnamed array
heap, and place all the variables into expanded memory.


Numerical Underflow

ASYSTANT and ASYSTANT+ versions prior to 1.04 did not treat
numerical underflows uniformly, forcing some underflows to zero
and leaving others untouched.  As in ASYSTANT 1.04, this release
now forces all underflows to zero.


Please Note:

There is a discrepancy between data files that have been created
with ASYST and ASYSTANT.  This difference can be seen in the
FILE PROC menu option and the FILE I/O menu option.  Subfiles of
dimension 3 or greater, perhaps created with ASYST, cannot be read
by ASYSTANT.  The Subfile listing, displayed upon opening a file,
will indicate subfiles with more than 2 dimensions.


II. Utilities and ASYSTANT

Prokey
     This keyboard enhancer allows you to assign sequences of
keystrokes to a single key, creating keyboard "macros" to
automate user control of the ASYSTANT.

     The following are potential areas of trouble when using
Prokey with ASYSTANT. Special care should be taken in these
areas.
          a)Any menu item that responds with the message "Press any
   key to continue" will be automatically continued by the
   subsequent keystrokes in the macro sequence.

      b)The Directory command (from then menu of DOS
   Operations) and the Print command (from the menu of Desk
   Calculator functions) produce screen output that may be
   suspended or aborted by pressing any key once or any key three
   times in rapid sucession. If either of these commands are
   embedded in a Prokey macro, the subsequent keystrokes in the
   sequence will cause screen output to be paused or aborted.


    Prokey is a product of:
    Rosesoft
    4710 University Way N.E., Suite 601
    Seattle, WA 98105
    [phone]



File Facility

    With the File Facility, ASYSTANT/ASYSTANT+ can access
    data files stored in any subdirectory that is named in
    the DOS PATH or SET command. The File Facility program
    was written by R.L. Saunders and M.R. Turner and is
    available from IBM through their Personally Developed
    Software Directory.

      Write to:
      IBM Personally Developed Software
      P.O. Box 3266
      Wallingford, CT  06494

      or call:
      1-800-IBM-PCSW


Mouse support

     Some of the popular mouse packages provide facilities or demo
programs that allow you to easily translate mouse movements into
keystroke sequences.  Some routines of this nature can be used with
ASYSTANT to allow the user to use a mouse to select menu choices.
It is also possible in some mouse packages to capture and save
mouse (and thus keystroke) sequences as pop up menu choices.  This
capability gives the user a primitive "macro" capability within
ASYSTANT.  Examples of these routines have been written by an
ASYSTANT user for the LOGITECH LOGIMOUSE C7.  Copies of these
routines can be had by contacting the Technical Support Department
at [phone].


III. Bugs addressed in Version 1.10

Rotation of a flat (0 value) wave in the wave processor manipulation
submenu will no longer give an error.  In the past an 8087 error was
incorrectly generated.

ASYSTANT 1.10 corrects a bug that occurred with Hercules video cards.
Screens were not restored correctly after using and exiting the DOS
submenu from a graphics display mode.  (Type Ctrl-D to access the
DOS submenu).

A bug was found and fixed with Y Auto plotting from the graphics submenu.
This bug would typically show up when trying to plot a large array two
times concurrently.  The system would give an error - "Not enough space
for unnamed array", when there was in fact enough.

In earlier releases of ASYSTANT, the system would return a value of
1 as the result of raising a negative number to a fractional power.
Now an error is generated.

In the past, use of algebraic notation would on occasion cause the
system to lock up or go to DOS.  This bug has been fixed.

Several misleading error messages have been modified to more accurately
represent the condition that caused them.

Two bugs have been fixed with the waveform scroller.  Both occurred when
in scroll readout mode, and resulted in residual lines being left on the
display.

The bug that prevented you from doing a data plot following an axis plot
has been corrected.  On occasion in the past, doing an axis plot before
a data plot may have resulted in the error message - "Not enough room for
unnamed array".

A bug with the ASYSTANT's error recovery mechanism has been fixed.  In
the past, it was possible to put the system into an endless "System
restarted" loop by using up most of the system's heap.  This could be
done by placing several large arrays on the stack.  The solution was
to drop elements off the top of the stack (usually at most one is
dropped) to make room in the heap to perform the error recovery.