home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
The 640 MEG Shareware Studio 2
/
The 640 Meg Shareware Studio CD-ROM Volume II (Data Express)(1993).ISO
/
business
/
mtgp23.zip
/
MTGPLUS.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1992-05-23
|
5KB
|
121 lines
Making The Grade Plus
(Differences with Making The Grade)
BACKGROUND
Perhaps one of the most distinguishing features of Making The Grade
is that either all students or all tests can be viewed at any given
time, without scrolling lists up and down the screen. Until now,
the number of lines on the screen, 25 on an 80 x 25 screen, has
limited the number of tests and students Making The Grade can
accommodate; there just wasn't room to display any more data on a
single screen.
The VGA (Virtual Graphics Array) display adapter however, can be
run in a number of other text modes, including 80 columns by 50
lines. With an additional 25 lines, it becomes possible to display
another 50 students or tests on the screen at once, for a total of
90 students and 90 tests. This is the basic difference between MTG
and MTG Plus -- the ability to handle classes of up to 90 students
instead of 40, and 90 tests in a single file instead of 40. In
most other respects, the two programs function identically, and the
remainder of this document lists the few differences between them.
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
MTG Plus requires that your computer be equipped with a VGA display
adapter. If you have recently purchased a system, it's very likely
you have a VGA, simply because they are now so cheap they have
become standard equipment. If you're not certain, just run the
program and it will check to see if a VGA is present. MTG Plus
will not run on an MDA, Hercules, CGA, or EGA adapter since they
cannot display 50 lines of text. If your VGA is connected to a
monochrome monitor, say a 'paper-white' or LCD screen, start up MTG
Plus with the /m switch for a mix of colors that provides better
contrast (i.e. type: mtgp /m).
While MTG needs only 512K of base memory, MTG Plus requires 640K to
accommodate the larger amounts of data.
INSTALLATION
Run INSTALL, same as with MTG. If on a 3.5" disk, MTG Plus is in
a subdirectory named \MTGPLUS, so first log on to this directory by
typing: cd \mtgplus, and then run INSTALL.
FILE FORMATS
MTG and MTG Plus save their data files in different formats; MTG
cannot read files created by MTG Plus, and vice versa. In fact,
the data files in MTG Plus have different file extensions so they
can be easily distinguished from those in MTG. This, along with
the hardware requirements, may restrict you to using one program or
the other. If you need to enter grades at home and at school for
example, you'll need a computer with VGA and 640K in both locations
to use MTG Plus.
Here is a table listing the files that have different names/
extensions in the two versions:
Making The Grade Making The Grade Plus
---------------------------------------------------------
Program MTG.EXE MTGP.EXE
Setup file SET_UP.MTG SET_UPM.TGP
Data files GEOG-2G1.MTX GEOG-2G1.MTP
Student Notes GEOG-2G1.STU GEOG-2G1.STP
Exported Student GEOG-2G1.EXS GEOG-2G1.XSP
Notes
Test Notes GEOG-2G1.TST GEOG-2G1.TTP
Exported Test GEOG-2G1.TST GEOG-2G1.XTP
Notes
Note that all data file extensions in MTG Plus have 'P' as the last
letter. In normal use, you won't need to know any of this because
each program can 'see' only its own data files. One advantage to
having different file names and extensions in each version is that
you can keep both versions in the same directory and they won't
interfere with one another.
MTG Plus data files are larger then those in MTG, 56K apiece
instead of 15K.
OTHER DIFFERENCES
MTG Plus allows 30 students to be moved offline instead of 15, so
in effect it can retain scores for 120 students.
Both student and test graphs are much deeper. A student graph for
example, can display the last 21 student & class averages in
contrast to MTG, which can display the last 9.
The Notes editor runs in a 48 line window instead of 23 lines,
which most people find more convenient (less scrolling to do).
When there are more than 40 students, reports automatically break
into multiple pages, repeating headers where necessary.
If you have a VGA and 640K, you may wish to use MTG Plus even with
smaller classes (less than 40) because of these enhancements. A
language teacher for example, may have classes with less than 40
students, but gives many short, oral tests almost on a daily basis.
MTG Plus allows 90 sets of scores to be entered before having to
use the 'Forward student averages into the new file' work-around.
Another possibility is a situation in which you are teaching two or
more sections of the same course; it may be feasible to combine
them in one file.
THE FUTURE
MTG Plus will continue to be enhanced in lockstep with MTG, and
both versions will be shipped with each update to registered users.