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1992-11-11
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This is an extract from the user manual supplied with TurboLog. It details how
to install TurboLog. For information on how to configure TurboLog, you will need
to refer to the documentation in the TURBOLOG.CNF file. Registered users get a
150 page manual giving considerably more detail on configuration options and
how to use the program. Unfortunately, this manual is over 1MB of data and thus
too large to fit onto a demonstration distribution disk!
....oooOOOooo....
TURBOLOG INSTALLATION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What computer should I use?
---------------------------
TurboLog will run on just about any PC or compatible. You will need a
minimum of 512k of RAM, (640k if you plan to use external databases or TSRs
such as BPQ node), A hard disk is required. TurboLog itself will only
occupy about 800kB on your disk, but the program makes frequent references
to the disk and builds log files that can become several MB in size. A fast
hard disk is a definite asset, but very significant improvements to
TurboLog's performance can be made by the use of a disk caching program
such as Smartdrv. I tend to recommend a minimum system of a 286 with around
2MB of RAM if you envisage serious use of TurboLog for many thousands of
QSOs. TurboLog 2 will not run on a floppy only system! Sorry!
Of paramount importance is that any computer you use should be able to live
peacefully with your rig. Sprogs from the computer and a tendency to fall
over in the presence of RF are not endearing features!
Computer I/O port requirements
------------------------------
To use the PacketCluster interface, you will need an absolute minimum of
one serial port. If you plan to use the transceiver interface so that you
can QSY your rig, then you will need a total of two serial ports. If you
wish to output Morse on a serial port then you'll need a third, but that
port does not need to have a separate IRQ, as interrupt handling is not
used for the Morse sender. If you wish to produce paper listings from the
report generator, then you will need to attach your printer to PRT1.
Finally, if you plan to use Morse on the printer port, and/or the
transceiver parallel interface auto-bandchange feature, or the remote
alerting facility, then you will need another printer port, PRT2.
Software Installation
---------------------
TurboLog will be shipped to you on a single 3.5" 720k or a single 5.25"
360k disc. In the following instructions, it will be assumed that you put
the distribution disk in drive A: and that your hard disk is drive C:. To
get the program and its database to fit onto a single floppy disc, it has
been necessary to use the PKZIP compression utility, so TurboLog is shipped
as a single self extracting file called TL.EXE. .
Installation on a hard disk based system
----------------------------------------
Put the distribution disk in Drive A:
If you do not have a previous version of TurboLog, then create a directory
for the program and then change to that directory, using the MkDir and CD
commands.
CD \
MD TURBOLOG
CD \TURBOLOG
Otherwise, get to the directory your earlier version is loaded in. Now type:
A:TL The archived files will be decompressed onto your hard
disk drive
(Note: if you are installing an upgrade then the PKUNZIP utility will ask
you if you want to overwrite files. You can safely answer YES.)
Once PKUNZIP has finished exploding(!) your files, you should type:
INSTALL This runs the TurboLog installation program.
The installation program will then provide you with two installation
options: install new and upgrade an existing installation. If you have a
previous version of TurboLog then you should be careful to use the upgrade
option, otherwise your DXCC database will be overwritten. In the event that
you do accidentally overwrite the DXCC database, then you can recover it
for QSOs that have been logged using the DXCC rebuild facility described in
section 18. Note that the PREVDXCC.DAT file, if it exists, is in no way
affected by any installation operations.
Remove the distribution disk from A: and place it somewhere safe. You
shouldn't need it again unless your working copy becomes corrupted.
Upgrading from TurboLog version 1?
----------------------------------
If you are upgrading from TurboLog version 1, there are a few of things you
need to do before anything else.
Updating your .TLG files
------------------------
The format of the xxxx.TLG file has changed slightly to accomodate the
alterations to the RST and power fields. A utility is built into TurboLog 2
to convert your files automatically. To run the utility, simply get to the
logbook operations menu, and take option F8: use a different logbook file.
Now take option F1 to use an existing log file, and select each log file in
turn. As you select each one, the conversion will take place automatically,
together with a rebuild of the lof index files. Bargraphs plot the progress
of this operation which could be time consuming for large files.
Updating your QSL label definition files
----------------------------------------
The format of the .LAB QSL label files has been altered slightly because of
enhancements to the QSL facilities. A conversion utility program is
provided which will be found in your TurboLog root directory. To perform
the conversion, simply get to DOS, and at the DOS prompt type CONVQSL. The
program will automatically find any .LAB files and convert them to the new
format. Note that only .LAB files that are in your DATA directory will be
converted. CONVQSL uses TURBOLOG.CNF to determine where the DATA directory
is.
Updating your TURBOLOG.CNF file
-------------------------------
TURBOLOG.CNF has grown considerably as a result of the many new features
that have been added in TurboLog 2. You will have to carry over the
parameters you have set in your existing TURBOLOG.CNF file across to the
new version.
Changing the BREAK parameter
----------------------------
Before you run TurboLog, you are strongly recommended to set BREAK off.
This is because the Control-C key will otherwise be interpreted as a
program break by your DOS. As you will be using various control keys (not,
as it happens, control-C), and particularly as control-C has another
meaning altogether in communicating with TNCs, you might inadvertently
break out of TurboLog just as that bit of choice DX arrives, if break is
enabled.
Disable the break feature by typing, at the DOS prompt:
BREAK OFF
You can put BREAK OFF into your AUTOEXEC.BAT file if you wish, and then you
will not need to remember to type it in each time you restart your
computer. The only implication of doing this is that other applications
cannot be made to break using control-C.
A word about directories
------------------------
Following installation, you will have three directories relating to
TurboLog, as follows.
TURBOLOG Root Directory
DATA Data directory
USRFILES User files directory
TURBOLOG is the root directory and contains the .EXE file and some system
control files. If you entered different directory names during installation
then those directory names will be used instead. DATA is a sub directory of
the root directory and contains all the data files used by TurboLog. This
includes the Countries database, and your personal DXCC database, along
with help files and so on. USRFILES will, after installation, contain
nothing, but will be where your own personal files, such as your logbook
files, mail messages etc. are kept.
Performance issues
------------------
TurboLog is a large program and makes considerable use of system resources.
In particular, it requires about 380kB of normal memory and makes extensive
use of files on your hard disk. It is therefore very much in your interests
to optimise your PC's set-up.
Use of code overlays
--------------------
The many features supported by TurboLog have made it necessary to overlay
some of the code segments. What this means is that when you are in, say,
the Filtered DX window, the code for the Logging window is dropped out of
memory to leave more space. This means that if you switch to another
window, the code has to be brought in from disk again. In hard disk based
systems, the delay will be fairly short, and may even be nonexistent, as
TurboLog will make use of extended RAM if possible to avoid having to go to
the disk all the time.
Another side effect of overlaying is that it takes longer to load the
program in the first place. There really is nothing I can do about this: a
large amount of code, plus all the databases all have to be read into
memory at start-up so that you can have fast access when using the program
real time.
There are two ways in which you can dramatically improve the overlay
manager's performance.
* By allocating extended memory to TurboLog
* By making use of a good disk cache program such as SMARTDRV
Processor issues
----------------
TurboLog will, in theory at least, run on any PC, PC compatible, or non-PC
running a PC emulator. However, you should recognise that this is a large
program: a lot of things are going on all at once and the CPU often has
some quite complex processing to do. In fairness, much of TurboLog is disk
bound from a performance viewpoint, but for reasonable performance,
particularly with very large logs I would suggest that the minimum
configuration should be a 286 running at around 12MHz.
Given that many current software packages, Windows, for example, run so
very much better on 386 systems upwards, you may like to seriously consider
a 386 as a more realistic baseline. With a 386 and 4MB of RAM you will be
able to run most of the current software on the market and at the same time
run TurboLog under Windows as a DOS application. If you plan to run
TurboLog under Windows, then be sure to use Windows 3.1, and make sure its
comms environment is set up properly!
Memory issues
-------------
As an absolute minimum, TurboLog will just execute in 512kB machines. There
will be essentially no free space available and you will need to remove any
TSRs to make it fit. You will not be able to run BPQ code together with
TurboLog in a 512k system. If you have a 640k machine, then things are a
lot better and you will be able to run other programs (up to about 130kB
typically, such as W6GO's QSL database program, PCDB).
If you have still more memory, then your options for system tuning start to
become more interesting. For example, TurboLog will automatically sense the
presence of free EMS memory and use it for holding the overlay file. This
avoids continual references to the disk as you navigate through the various
functions of TurboLog. You can also give consideration to running your DOS
in high memory, if the version you have will allow it. This can yield
another 80kb or so basic memory for running other applications with
TurboLog. Note, however, that this can have CPU performance implications on
less powerful systems.
Use of disk cache programs
--------------------------
Because of the extensive use TurboLog makes of disk files, anything you can
do to speed up disk operations will have a profound effect on the speed of
operation of your program. Obviously the faster your basic disk access time
is, the better will be the performance, but you can cheat quite
legitimately by running a disk cache program.
The disk cache will eat up a chunk (say 1Mb) of your extended or expanded
memory. In return, it will carefully manage your disk activity, so that
frequently accessed data are always read from memory rather than from the
disk itself. Of course, the first time you access a particular bit of data,
it has to be read in, but thereafter access times will be much faster.
The latest versions of some caching programs also feature write caching for
hard disks. This can significantly speed up write operations such as
logging a QSO. You need to give serious consideration to the implications
of using write caching: your data is not really secure until it is actually
written to the hard disk, and that might be several seconds after the
program thought it did the write! Personally, I have found the Smartdrv
write cache works fine, though I did take the precaution of writing a small
file called QRT.BAT which I call whenever I am about to turn the computer
off. All it does is to flush the write buffer and then park the disk. I've
had no problems.
Some recommendations
--------------------
If you have the memory (of the order of 1MB or more EMS) then go for a good
disk cache program, This will overcome all the overlay management issues,
as well as providing space for frequently used files to be held in memory.
I have personally found that the SMARTDRV program, shipped with Windows 3
is quite excellent with TurboLog, but I am sure that other programs would
be just fine too.
If you can't allow so much space, then do consider letting TurboLog have
some of your extended memory (i.e. don't have other programs using it all).
This will greatly improve TurboLog's overlay switching performance.
Finally, don't ignore the improvement that a faster basic hard disk can
give you. Hard discs are getting cheaper all the time, and you will notice
a big difference between, say, an 18ms and a 28ms disc.