ASP Advantage 1993

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REXL USER'S GUIDE Foreign Language Books with Pop-up translations Version 24 January 1991 (c) Copyright 1991 H. S. Aurand All rights reserved. SHAREWARE INFORMATION This software, while copyrighted, is shareware. This has two advantages for the user. First, price is minimized by drastically reducing advertising and distribution costs, and second, shareware is offered on a try-before-buy basis. This means that the software may be tried without paying for a license. Trying means reading only a few pages of the book. If the user wishes to read more than this, he or she must register the software with the developer and pay an affordable amount for a license to use the complete book of seventy-six screens, or about one hundred and fifty pages in a bound book format. This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. The definition of shareware promulgated by ASP that is applicable to this shareware follows: "Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details -- some request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the software to an updated program with printed manual. "Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a specific group. For example, some authors require written permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their Shareware. "Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. And because the overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. "DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT "Users of this program, REXL, along with its data file, LAZAR000, must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "REXL and LAZAR000 are supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of REXL and LAZSW000. "REXL and LAZAR000 are `shareware' and are provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of `user-supported' software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you are using REXL LAZAR000 and continue to use them after a reasonable trial period, you must register it as described below. "The registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time. "Anyone distributing REXL and LAZAR000 for any kind of remuneration must first contact the author at the address below for authorization. Authorization is hereby automatically granted to distributors recognized by the ASP as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering REXL immediately (However REXL must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of REXL.) "You are encouraged to pass a copy of REXL along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. All registered users will receive a copy of the latest version of the REXL system." This software includes the following files: REXL Program INSTALL.EXE REXL.EXE v. 24 January 1991 REXL.CFG REXL.MSG REXL.MIX README This file REXL Data LAZSW000 Lazarillo de Tormes v. 24 January 1991 LAZSW000.DEF To register this software, send a check or money order denominated in U. S. currency (no COD's) for $19 plus $5 for shipping and handling (California residents add $1.57 sales tax) to: REXL 734 Camino Catalina Solana Beach, CA 92075 On registration, user's will be provided with licensed diskettes, a printed manual, telephone support, new product information and upgrade service. As mentioned above users are encouraged to copy this software and share it with the following restrictions: No commercial use is permitted nor may any fees be charged for printed material or for software other than as described above. No alteration may be made to any of the above files. Neither the printed manual nor a computer printed manual (README file) may be reproduced. If the registered and licensed software is to be used on a network, one copy for each station using the software must be registered. Or inquire about site licensing. Special educational rates are available if the intellectual property rights of the author can be shown to be protected. Telephone number is 619-481-0781. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Quick Start 1 System Requirements 3 Installation 3 Floppy Disk Operation 4 Hard Disk Operation 5 Starting REXL 5 REXL Menus 6 Read Menu 6 Read Menu and Text Toggles 8 Reading 9 Saving Your Place 10 Utility Menu 10 Change and Load Data Disk Menu 11 Attribute Change Menu 13 Tachistoscope Menu 15 Appendices A Text Marking Recommendations 18 B Structure of REXL Menus 19 INTRODUCTION REXL is designed to help those becoming literate in a foreign language. This presumes that the reader, while not fluent in the foreign language, has a working understanding of its grammar as well as a modest reading vocabulary. Using a personal computer and REXL software, the user reads the foreign language text from the screen. By using a function key and cursor keys the meaning of an unknown word or idiomatic or expression is displayed immediately above the unknown word or expression. With a press of a key, the display is removed and normal reading resumed. Footnotes are treated as idiomatic expressions except that they are displayed at the top or bottom of the screen and may be several lines in length. There are several options in displaying and pointing that tailor REXL to the particular needs of the reader. These are explained in some detail below. REXL translations are exact for the meaning in the text. If you want a dictionary translation in addition to that supplied by REXL and you have a hard disk, you may obtain it from a dictionary program used in conjunction with REXL. One such program that is compatible with REXL is Spanish Assistant (TM) published by MicroTac Software, telephone 800-366-4170. Load this program then run REXL. The translation from the Random House Dictionary included in Spanish Assistant can be viewed by pressing ALT S. Grammar notes and verb conjugation are also available. QUICK START Caution: Make a backup disk of your REXL Program Disk and your REXL Data Disk(s)! This is absolutely essential since the REXL program writes to a file on every disk during installation. REXL needs all the memory below 512K bytes to operate expeditiously. You should remove all ram resident programs, shells and caches to accomplish this. The REXL program will notify you if any of these have been loaded. REXL menus are self-explanatory. You should be able to run REXL without further reading beyond page 3. While using REXL, you can obtain help by pressing F1 (Function Key 1). Hard Disk 1. Place your backup REXL Program Disk in the drive you are going to use for installation. This would usually be drive A. Change to this drive by typing A: then press the ENTER key. 2. Now type INSTALL then press the ENTER key. 3. This program will lead you through the installation of your REXL Program Disk files and your Data Disk(s). They will be copied to drive C:, directory \REXL unless you specify otherwise during installation. 4. Follow the instructions on the screen. You will finally be prompted to type REXL, then press the ENTER key to run REXL. 5. For a given computer INSTALL needs to be run only once. After that to use REXL, change directory to that selected in Step 3, type REXL then press the ENTER key. Floppy Disk 1. Place your backup REXL Program Disk in the drive you are going to use for installation. This would usually be drive A. Change to this drive by typing A: then press the ENTER key. 2. Now type INSTALL then press the ENTER key. 3. Follow the instructions on the screen. You will be instructed to place the backup REXL Data Disk that you wish to use in the second floppy drive. If you have only a single floppy drive (and no hard disk), you will be given an appropriate warning. Finally you will be prompted to type REXL then the ENTER key to run REXL. 4. For a given computer INSTALL needs to be run only once. After that place your backup REXL Program Disk in the drive selected for it in Step 1. Change DOS to this drive. Place the backup REXL Data Disk you want to use in the drive selected for it. Type REXL then press the ENTER key. 5. While not recommended, if you have 512K bytes of memory and only a single floppy drive, you may run REXL. Place the backup REXL Program Disk in the floppy drive, then type REXL and press the ENTER key. You will be prompted by the program when to change disks. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS REXL is provided on either 5-1/4 inch DSDD (360K) or 3-1/2 inch 720K byte disks. If you have no hard disk, you should have two 5-1/4 inch or two 3-1/2 inch floppy drives. If you have no hard disk, but have two drives of different sizes, copy your REXL program disk. Then use this copy to make another one. Use the latter as your backup disk, and erase the first copy made. REXL Data Disk(s) need be copied only once for backup. To run REXL the following requirements must be met: 1. The computer must be fully IBM PC, XT, AT or PS/2 compatible. 2. It must be booted up with DOS 2.0 or higher. 3. If it is not a PC or XT type, it must run in the real mode. 4. It must have a hard disk and at least a DSDD (360K) floppy drive. If so, the hard disk must have a minimum of 720K bytes available on disk. There must be an additional 362K bytes of memory available on the hard disk for each data (book) disk you wish to store. or 4. It must have two floppy drives if no hard disk is present. It is possible to run REXL with one floppy drive if there is a full complement of RAM memory installed. This is not recommended. 5. If the computer is equipped with a hard disk or two floppy drives, a minimum of 256K bytes of RAM must be present. Additional RAM will speed up operation. If only a single floppy drive is present, 640K bytes of RAM are required. INSTALLATION In addition to an installation program, INSTALL.EXE, the REXL Program Disk includes the REXL operating file, REXL.EXE, along with a file of configuration values, REXL.CFG, and two files that store help screens and other messages, REXL.MSG and REXL.MIX. You will also need Data (book) Disks to use REXL. These disks are labeled with a five letter name and three decimal digits, such as DONQU000. While a 360K byte floppy disk can hold small books, larger books will require more than one data disk per book, hence the digits as part of the disk and file name. Data disks also contain a small file that includes, among other things, your place in the book. You will be prompted every time you quit REXL whether or not you want to save your place. If you are using a shell program such as that available in DOS 5, you should exit to the DOS command prompt. Place the REXL Program Disk in the drive you wish to use for installation. Change the DOS prompt to this drive if it is not already set to it. This will usually be drive A. To do this type A: then press the ENTER key. Then type INSTALL then press the ENTER key. Alternatively, you may copy your REXL Program and Data files to a directory on hard disk. Change the current working path to this, then type INSTALL and press the ENTER key. If you have a hard drive you will be asked whether you want to use it or not. Then you will be asked whether the five letter book name on record is the one you want to read. If your answer is no, you will be asked to enter the name you wish to read. You will not be asked for the disk number. From this point until you are reading, operations with a hard disk and floppies diverge somewhat. Floppies will be described first. FLOPPY DISK OPERATION If you wish to run REXL, type REXL then press the ENTER key. REXL does some checking to be sure that the computer is properly configured to run. Among other things it checks to see if there is enough memory available, that the proper video mode is set and that sufficient files can be opened. REXL then displays the five letter book disk name that it currently has on file and asks if it is OK. Enter your answer. If no, you will be asked to enter the name of the book disk and its number that you want to read. You then will be instructed to place that disk in the drive that was selected during installation and to press any key to continue. The two files from that disk will be loaded into memory to the extent that there is sufficient memory. HARD DISK OPERATION The INSTALL program will then have you check whether you want both the REXL Program Disk and the data (book) disks installed in the C:\REXL directory. If your answer is negative, you will be prompted for your choice. Then you will be prompted to remove the program disk from the floppy drive and place the data disk having the name you selected and 000 in it. You will be instructed to press any key when ready. If the book has more than one data disk, you will be prompted to place the disk labeled with the appropriate number in the drive and press any key when ready. When loading is completed you will be in the directory selected for the Program Disk files. You will be instructed to type REXL then press the ENTER key and the INSTALL program will exit to DOS. Type REXL then press the ENTER key if you wish to run REXL. STARTING REXL When you run REXL from either the hard or floppy disk, you will first see a title screen. Press any key when you are ready. If you have less than 362,497 bytes of RAM available for data and you have any ram resident programs, the next screen will list their names and sizes and display a message about them. Next you will be prompted with the name and number of the current data disk and asked if it is OK. If not, you will be asked for the name and number of the Data (book) Disk you wish to read. After this you will see the text. You can now start to read using the REXL pop-up translations. How this is done on is explained on the following pages. If you are not sure of how to do this, press ESC. This will return you to the Read Menu. Or you may press the F1 help key. When reading if you are not able to distinguish among the various ways that REXL marks words and idiomatic expressions, you may be able to remedy this by adjusting your monitor brightness and contrast controls. If this does not work to your satisfaction, select the Utility Menu from the Read Menu and then the Attribute Change Menu. Options on this menu permit you to set the display attributes of the four types of word marking. See Appendix A, page 18, for the default (recommended) settings. The next paragraph explains how to select options from these menus. REXL MENUS To make a selection from any menu of REXL press the highlighted capital letter to make a selection. Or move the arrow up and down from line to line using the up and down arrow cursor keys until the arrow points to the desired option. Then select the option marked with an arrow by pressing the ENTER key. While reading is the prime purpose of REXL, there are occasions when you might want to use other features of REXL that are available through the use of REXL menus. The structure of these menus is shown in Appendix B, page 19. To proceed from the text to the Read Menu press ESC. The other menus down the menu tree are selected from the menu above it. However, you may proceed directly from any lower menu to a higher one or to the text. READ MENU The following options can be selected from this menu: Quit This option will cause the program to exit to DOS. You should always quit REXL by using a quit option in order to be sure to properly close data files. Furthermore, using this option to quit permits you to save your place so that the next time you start REXL and come to the text, the marked word will be where you left it, and the toggles described below will be the same as when you quit. Utility menu Selecting this option will immediately bring up the Utility Menu described on page 10. You may read using REXL and never have to use this option. On the other hand, there are options here that you might find useful from time to time. Read Apart from the "Quit," "Utility menu" and "Help" options, all options on the Read Menu pertain to reading. The "Read" option switches the Read Menu off and displays text. To return to the Read Menu from the text at any time press the ESC key. Help Selecting this option will bring up a help screen which essentially duplicates these instructions. Note that this option can be selected by pressing the F1 key, not only while the Read Menu is present, but while you are reading text. Page and Word Numbers When selected, the "Page number" option prompts for an input. Note that page numbering starts with zero for the title page. Below the "Page number" option is the "Word number" option. The prompt and input are for the word number on the page. The word number in the entire text file is also displayed along with the actual word. When the "Read" option is selected, activity will start on the text display that is indicated by the page and word numbers. As will be shown later, when text is displayed, pages and words can be changed by use of the cursor keys. On return to the Read Menu using ESC the page and word values shown will reflect the changes made with the cursor keys in the text mode. Words Per Minute The next option is "wOrds per minute." When selected this option prompts for and receives a value. When in the automatic scan mode described later, this value determines the scan rate. READ MENU AND TEXT TOGGLES The remaining options on the Read Menu are toggles. That is, when selected, they are changed to a value. When selected again, they are changed back to the original value and so on. In addition to setting these toggles on the Read Menu by selecting options, both in the Read Menu and in text display, toggling can be done using the function keys, F6 through F8 and F10. Scan Mode, F10 The "Scan mode" toggle option, F10, toggles between "Manual" and "Automatic." In either mode, ESC can be pressed to return to the Read Menu. Function keys (toggles) except F10 and F1 do not operate during automatic scanning. In the manual mode, the current word on the current page of text is highlighted. This highlight can be moved using the cursor keys. Right and left arrows move it one word at a time, wrapping to the next line or page as required. The up and down arrows move it up and down a line. HOME will move the highlight to the first word on the page, END will move it to the last. PAGE UP will move it to the previous page. If the original page is page zero, the destination page will be the last page. PAGE DOWN works in a similar manner. Finally CTRL HOME moves the highlight to the first page, and CTRL END to the last page of the data (book) disk loaded. Display Translation, F8 In manual mode the "Display translation" toggle, F8, if On, displays a translated word or idiomatic expression over the highlighted word. If switched Off, text display without translation is restored. Translation of Idiomatic Expression, F7 Normally this toggle is set to "Idiomatic expression." In this case if the highlighted word is in an idiomatic expression, the translation of the entire expression appears above the highlighted idiomatic expression. If the translated idiomatic expression is longer than one line and the highlighted expression is in the lower half of the screen, the translated expression appears at the top of the screen and vice versa. If this toggle is set to "Literal translation of each word," when the highlighted word is in an idiomatic expression, the literal translation of only the highlighted word will appear immediately above it. Locate Idiomatic Expression, F6 In order to show which words have idiomatic expression translations, the "Locate idm. expr." toggle, F6, is provided. When set On, all text words that are part of an idiomatic expres- sion are highlighted. This toggle affects the automatic as well as the manual scan mode, but can be set only in the manual mode or from the Read Menu. READING Thus there are two ways of reading with REXL. One is to read using the manual mode with the "Display translation" toggle, F8, Off. When a word or expression is encountered that is not understood, the highlighting is moved to the word using the cursor keys, and the translation is displayed using the "Display translation toggle," F8. Normally the "Translation of idm. expr." toggle, F7, will be set to "Idiomatic expression." If so, when the highlighted word is in an idiomatic expression the translation of the idiomatic expression appears. If translation of an individual word in the idiomatic expression is desired, toggling F7 to "Literal translation of each word" will display the translation of the highlighted word immediately above it. Before continuing to read, this toggle, F7, should normally be reset to "Idiomatic expression." Normal reading is then resumed after toggling "Display translation," F8, to Off. The other method of reading obviates the necessity of moving manually through the text. This involves reading in the automatic scan mode with an appropriate value for "wOrds per minute" set and the "Display translation" toggle, F8, set On. Scanning is accomplished by blanking lines one at a time at a rate commensurate with the "wOrds per minute" value. Then when an unknown word or expression is encountered, switch to the manual mode using F10. The highlighted word with its translation will be immediately displayed and all blanked lines restored. If the manual scan does not stop precisely on the desired word, it will be close enough that only a few presses on the cursor keys will get to it. Reading can be resumed by pressing the F10 key. At any time if you wish to stop the scan, press F10. If the scanning is too fast or slow, press ESC to return to the Read menu, reset the "wOrds per minute" value and select "Read" to resume. SAVING YOUR PLACE When you are finished with a reading session, to save your place in the text, press ESC to return to the Read Menu. Then select the "Quit" menu option. You will be asked whether you want to save your place. If yes, the page and word numbers along with the toggle settings will be saved by writing to the data (book) de- fault file. When you next run REXL using this data (book) file, your place in the book as well as the reading toggles will be set the same as when you quit. If you are operating from floppy disks, the write protection, if present, must be removed from the data (book) disk in order to save your place. UTILITY MENU Reading and using REXL do not require any of the capabilities described from this point on. However, several capabilities are included that can be of use to the reader. The following options can be selected from this menu: Quit This option will cause the program to exit to DOS. You should always exit using a quit option in order to be sure to close data files properly. Furthermore, using this option to quit permits you to save your place so that the next time you start REXL and come to the text, the marked word will be where you left it, and the toggles will be set the same as when you quit. teXt This option will return you directly to text reading at the place and condition you left it. Read menu This option will return you to the Read Menu. Help Selecting this option will bring up a help screen which essentially duplicates these instructions. Note that this option can also be selected by pressing the F1 key. Load new data disk menu This menu can be used to load a different book or a different file number of the same book. Attribute change menu If you have difficulty in distinguishing among the various types of markings used in REXL and you cannot remedy the situation by using monitor controls, this menu will permit you to change and save the attributes of the markings as described on page 13. Tachistoscope This is the second part of the rapid reading trainer built into REXL. The first part is setting the Scan Mode Toggle to Automatic from the Read Menu or from reading text. This covers up text at a rate set by the wOrds per minute option of the Read Menu. This pushes the reader to proceed at a rate higher than he or she would normally achieve. This Tachistoscope option enables the second part of the rapid reading trainer built into REXL. It permits the reader to increase his or her visual span; that is, how many characters he or she can read in a single fixation of the eyes. This is done by flashing a series of digits of set length on the screen and having the reader input what he or she saw. The number of digits that can be correctly read will increase with practice. This permits the reader to proceed at a faster rate because fewer fixations are needed. See page 15 for details. CHANGE AND LOAD DATA DISK MENU Quit This option will cause the program to exit to DOS. You should always exit using a quit option in order to be sure to close data files properly. Furthermore, using this option to quit permits you to save your place so that the next time you start REXL and come to the text, the marked word will be where you left it, and the toggles will be set the same as when you quit. Text This option will return you directly to text reading at the place and condition you left it. Read menu This option will return you to the Read Menu. Utility menu This option will return you to the Utility Menu. Help Selecting this option will bring up a help screen which essentially duplicates these instructions. Note that this option can also be selected by pressing the F1 key. 1 load next disk number If your REXL book has more than one data disk, this option will load the next data disk into memory. If you are using floppy disks, it will also prompt you to place the floppy disk into the correct drive. 2 load previous disk number If your REXL book has more than one data disk, this option will load the previous data disk into memory. If you are using floppy disks, it will also prompt you to place the floppy disk into the correct drive. 3 change data directory If you are using a hard disk to store data files, this option permits you to change the directory where data files are kept in case you want to keep different books in separate directories. The name of the current directory is also displayed. 4 change data disk name If you wish to read a different REXL book, this option permits you to change the five character code name for the book. The current name is also displayed. 5 change data disk number This option permits selecting an arbitrary disk number if there is more than a single disk per book. The current number is also displayed. Load data disk If you have changed 3 through 5, the designated data disk will be loaded into memory. ATTRIBUTE CHANGE MENU Quit This option will cause the program to exit to DOS. You should always exit using a quit option in order to be sure to close data files properly. Furthermore, using this option to quit permits you to save your place so that the next time you start REXL and come to the text, the marked word will be where you left it, and the toggles will be set the same as when you quit. teXt This option will return you directly to text reading at the place and condition you left it. Read menu This option will return you to the Read Menu. Utility menu This option will return you to the Utility Menu. Help Selecting this option will bring up a help screen which essentially duplicates these instructions. Note that this option can also be selected by pressing the F1 key. Save to REXL.CFG file Saves the attribute changes made below. Overwrites values previously stored for use. Get defaults from REXL.CFG Reads the REXL.CFG file to obtained attribute values currently stored there. Blink bit toggle This toggles between blinking and intense background. Its effect can be seen in the examples associated with the following four types of word markings. Word in text marking When selected, this option will be highlighted. If the numbered options are then selected, the value of the attribute byte is changed and displayed and its effect shown by an example using the letter W. Idiomatic expression marking When selected, this option will be highlighted. If the numbered options are then selected, the value of the attribute byte is changed and displayed and its effect shown by an example using the letter I. Text word in idiomatic expression When selected, this option will be highlighted. The attribute set here controls the marking of a text word that is part of an idiomatic expression. If the numbered options are then selected, the value of the attribute byte is changed and displayed and its effect shown by an example using the letter E. Xlations When selected, this option will be highlighted. The attribute set here controls the marking of translations whether literal or idiomatic expressions. If the numbered options are then selected, the value of the attribute byte is changed and displayed and its effect shown by an example using the letter T. Attribute changes The next eight options permit the changing of attributes. The method of doing this is slightly different for monochrome display adapters (MDA) and other video adapters or systems. You need not be concerned with this choice since it is done for you. The type of video adapter was determined during the installation of REXL and is stored in the REXL.CFG file. If your computer does not use an MDA, the eight options permit you to select the value of the display attribute byte bit by bit. The value of each bit is displayed as being off or on. Each time a bit is changed the effect is displayed at the type of word marking highlighted. If your computer uses an MDA, there are only a few attribute bytes than can be used. Selecting one of the eight numbered options sets the attribute value to one of these. The value selected is marked with an X and its effect is displayed at the type of word marking highlighted. TACHISTOSCOPE MENU Quit This option will cause the program to exit to DOS. You should always exit using a quit option in order to be sure to close data files properly. Furthermore, using this option to quit permits you to save your place so that the next time you start REXL and come to the text, the marked word will be where you left it, and the toggles will be set the same as when you quit. Text This option will return you directly to text reading at the place and condition you left it. Read menu This option will return you to the Read Menu. Utility menu This option will return you to the Utility Menu. Help Selecting this option will bring up a help screen which essentially duplicates these instructions. Note that this option can also be selected by pressing the F1 key. Start This option starts the tachistoscope. This menu will be erased, and you will be prompted to press any key when ready. When you do, a blank box will appear on the screen. In two seconds a number will flash in the box. Enter the number when prompted using either the number keys at the top of the keyboard or the number keys on the key pad. (The program will change the key pad back and forth between the numbers and the cursors as required.) When the re- quired number of trials are completed, you are given the number and percentage correct and returned to this menu. If you found the trials too difficult or too easy, you may change the visual span (number of digits in the box) using the next option. The idea is to increase the number of digits that you can see in a single fixation of the eyes through practice. Visual span This option lets you set the number of digits that will be flashed by the tachistoscope. The current value is also displayed. Flash time (milliseconds) This controls the duration of the flash. This value should not be set too low or the number cannot be seen. If set too long, the eyes and brain will attempt more than one fixation. Interestingly enough this will result in poorer performance. In any event it obviates the purpose of the tachistoscope. sEed for randomizing If this option is not selected after entering the Tachistoscope Menu, the seed will be based on the date and time. As a result each sequence of numbers will be different. On the other hand if repeatable sequences are desired, select this option using the same seed each time. The numbers, while pseudo-random, will repeat. Number of trials This option controls the number of flashes and responses before returning to this menu. Prompt for each trial Selecting this option changes a toggle between automatic and prompted operation. Its current setting is displayed as either "Automatic" or "On." If "On," each flash of the number in the box must be started with a key press. If "Automatic," each trial waits a certain length of time after your entry of a number before flashing the next number in the box. This delay time can be selected by using the next option. Delay time after entry (seconds) This option displays and permits the selection of delay time as described just above. This option will not be displayed if the "Prompt for each trial" toggle is set "On." APPENDIX A Text Marking Recommendations REXL has been designed to operate on as many types of IBM PC compatible computers as possible. The diversity of monitor types is such that at least three different kinds of monitors and video adapter cards must be accommodated. During installation video attributes are set as recommended below. It is easy to change and save these attributes to accommodate personal preference using the Attribute Change Menu described on page 13. This appendix provides three different recommended sets of attributes for: monochrome monitors with MDA video adapter cards, monochrome monitors with color video adapter cards and color monitors with color video adapter cards. Monochrome Monitor with MDA Word in text marking F0 Idiomatic expression marking 70 Text word in idiomatic expression F0 Xlations 8F Monochrome Monitor with Color Card Word in text marking F0 Idiomatic expression marking 70 Text word in idiomatic expression 7F Xlations 40 Color Monitor with Color Card Word in text marking E0 Idiomatic expression marking 60 Text word in idiomatic expression 6E Xlations C0 APPENDIX B Structure of REXL Menus ┌──────────────────┐ │ Text │ └────────┬─────────┘ │ │ │ ┌────────┴─────────┐ │ Read Menu │ └────────┬─────────┘ │ │ │ ┌────────┴─────────┐ │ Utility Menu │ └────────┬─────────┘ │ │ ┌──────────────────────┼──────────────────────┐ │ │ │ ┌────────┴─────────┐ ┌────────┴─────────┐ ┌────────┴─────────┐ │ Load Menu │ │ Attribute Menu │ │ Tachistoscope │ └──────────────────┘ └──────────────────┘ └──────────────────┘ 21 November 1991