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READ.ME
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1991-10-10
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_______
____|__ | (tm)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
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 P.O. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006 or send a Compuserve
message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
October 10, 1991
This is release 2.24 of PlotManager.
Installation and Use
--------------------
PlotManager is distibuted as a self extracting archive called
PLOTM.EXE. Executing this file creates all of the files necessary to
run PlotManager. PlotManager is installed by simply placing all of the
PLTMGR files in the same directory. Make sure that PLTMGR.EXE,
PLTMGR.EMU, PLTMGR.PDL and PLTMGR.HLP are all located in the same
directory. Start PlotManager by typing PLTMGR and pressing return.
This can be done either form the directory containing the PlotManager
files or from another directory if the DOS search PATH has been
modified to contain the directory where PlotManager is located.
Once in PlotManager, you can use the F1 key at any time to recieve help
on using PlotManager or information on the function PlotManager is
performing. All of PlotManager's features are documented in the help
file.
Licensing and Registration
--------------------------
You can contact the author of this software via CompuServe as user
73417,155. Please send your messages via CIS MAIL.
Full documentation, registration, and a program disk containing the
latest version of this program are available from the address below for
a $50 ShareWare fee.
John Intorcio
335 Washington Street, Suite 178
Woburn, MA 01801
Users of PlotManager must accept this disclaimer of warranty:
"PlotManager is 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 conse- quential, which may result from
the use of PlotManager."
PlotManager is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to
the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it 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 PlotManager and
continue to use PlotManager after a 30 day trial period, you must make
a registration payment of $50 to John Intorcio at the above address.
The $50 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.
Commercial users of PlotManager must register and pay for their copies
of PlotManager within 30 days of first use or their license is
withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting John
Intorcio.
Anyone distributing PlotManager for any kind of remuneration must first
contact John Intorcio at the address above for authorization. This
authorization will be automatically granted to distributors recognized
by the (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors,
and such distributors may begin offering PlotManager immediately
(However John Intorcio must still be advised so that the distributor
can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of PlotManager.).
You are encouraged to pass a copy of PlotManager 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 PlotManager system. Upon registration users
will receive a laser printed manual, will become eligable for telephone
support, and will be notified by U.S. Mail of future updates should
they occur. Registered users of obsolete versions may upgrade to the
current version of PlotManager by sending a $5 handling charge to the
address above. In return they will receive a program disk with the
latest version of PlotManager and a laser printed manual.
Copyright (C) 1989, 1990, 1991, John Intorcio. All rights reserved.
PlotManager is a trademark of John Intorcio.
AutoCAD is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc.
Turbo C is a trademark of Borland International, Inc.
HPGL is a trademark of Hewlett-Packard Company.
DM/PL and Houston Instrument are trademarks of AMETEK, Inc.
Revisions History
-----------------
Version 1.00 - March 15, 1989 - Original Public Release
*PlotManager brought to life on 4.77Mhz 8088 with TurboC
*Last minute features not in the documentation:
- The emulation file may contain comments describing the included
plotters. Any line that begins with an exclamation point, "!",
is ignored by PlotManager.
- On startup of the program, the "Current Directory" will be set
to the working directory. This directory will be displayed on
the main menu and not the blank path as shown in the printed
documentation.
Version 1.01 - April 23, 1989
*Added progress gauge during sending of plot to plotter.
*Fixed sensing of startup directory.
*Improved plotter time-out detection.
Version 1.02 - April 26, 1989
*Fixed Escape key handling in file selection screen.
*Improved HPGL handling:
- Handles CR's and LF's in file.
- Supports PUxxx,xxx; and PDxxx,xxx; syntax.
- Handles repeated ;'s and whitespace.
- Ignores IW command, leaving clip limits at hard clip.
- Ignoree RO command, rotation is explicitly handled.
- Ignores IP command, scale points may not be changed .
Version 1.03 - May 7, 1989
*Improved HPGL handling:
- Handles spaces correctly
- Ignores AP command, retaining default pen options
- Ignores SI command, don't handle text yet anyway
*Now gets time-out error if no plotter connected
Version 1.1 - July 4, 1989
*Improved HPGL handling:
- Now handles file that use carriage return as command terminator
*Added command line options:
PlotManager may now be started from the command line in either a
.DXF translation mode or plot sending mode. For example, the command
line "PLTMGR -D MYPLOT" would start PlotManager and convert MYPLOT
to .DXF format and "PLTMGR -P MYPLOT" would start PlotManager and
send the file MYPLOT to the plotter. In both cases, all of the
currently saved options are used. As always, "PLYMGR MYPLOT"
will display the file MYPLOT on the screen.
*Fixed dot handling:
PlotManager no longer looses dots (a pen down move immediately
followed by a pen up with no movement in between) properly when
creating a clipped plot file or a .DXF file.
*Now includes ScanPlot 1.1
Handles all files now handled by PlotManager.
Version 1.2 - July 22, 1989
*Added DXF compatibility with AutoSketch 2.0.
*ScanPlot utility updated for new ignore method.
*Misc. code changes for improved speed.
*Optional logging of ignored plot commands:
May be turned on from the "Set Operating Paramters" menu. With
this option on, any unimplemented commands that are ignored by
PlotManager during the creation of a .DXF file ro zoomed plot
are written to a file call <pltname>.LOG complete with their
parameters. This file can then be used to make additions and
corrections by hand.
*Support for COM3 and COM4:
Additional COM ports are now supported. PlotManager uses the
following addresses and interrupts for the COM ports:
Port Address Interrupt
---- ------- ---------
COM1 3F8h 4
COM2 2F8h 3
COM3 3E8h 4
COM4 2E8h 3
*Improved HPGL handling:
- Ignores most un-implemented commands.
- Handle (ignores) Esc commands.
- Handles leading "+" on numbers.
- Handles multiple end of file markers.
- Assumes plot is done when any SUB command is found
beyond the end of the header section.
- Fixed handling of LT command with no scale.
- Allows DF command in place of IN.
- Handles CI command - Circles (HPGL Only, only in display mode).
Net result of these improvements is that PlotManager will now
handle virtually any HPGL file and many DM/PL files as long as
standard syntax is used. Un-implemented commands are skipped
over and optionally logged.
Version 1.21 - July 23, 1989
*Fixed embarassing little bug in handling of DM/PL files.
Version 1.22 - July 29, 1989
*Added DXF option on main menu.
*Added option to pause before plots in Continuous mode.
*Now checks header for appropriate language on direct
DXF translation and aborts if language is wrong.
*Improved HPGL handling:
- Handles CI - Circles in DXF mode (unscaled only)
- Handles LB - Labels in DXF mode (unscaled only)
Version 1.23 - August 12, 1989
*Fixed bug in handling of text strings.
*Fixed bug in hadling PUxxx,xxx; syntax.
*Now eats spaces before numbers.
Version 1.3 - August 15, 1989
*Added context sensitive help screens.
*Documentation file no longer distributed on disk.
Version 1.31 - August 27, 1989
*Moved plotters to dynamic memory. Number of emulations
now limited only by available memory.
*Added help on emulation file errors.
*Fixed problem with startup path name when starting from
the root directory of a disk.
*Fixed problem with graphics mode help screens on higher
resolution graphics screens.
*Added binary DXF support. PlotManager can now make binary
DXF files which are smaller and read faster by AutoCAD.
Note that these files are not recognized by version of
AutoCAD earlier than Release 10.
*Added support for user scaling (SC Command) in zoomed
plot and DXF modes. Now handles IBMCAD files!
*Fixed problem with character size command in zoomed
plot mode.
*Fixed appearance of ASCII DXF file by ending lines with
CR LF rather than just LF.
*Fixed checking of rotation codes when reading emulations.
Version 2.0 - December 15, 1989
*Many enhancements to user interface:
-All new menus with mouse support.
-Improved help system with cross referencing.
-Improved attributes on monochrome monitors.
-Improved error and status messages.
-Confirmation on quit.
*Eliminated unused layer 16 from DXF files.
*Added device support for close to 200 printers.
*Added support for serial printers.
*Added choice of Landscape or Portrait screen dumps.
*Added adjustable printer aspect ratio.
*Added full path to plot names allowing output to a
differing directory.
*Drastically improved resolution when zooming due to
enhanced screen scaling algorithm.
*Added DCD, CTS, and DSR dependant plotting modes in
addition to Xon/Xoff and Blind Send protocols.
*Added plotting to parallel ports.
*Fixed DXF creation to disks other than default drive.
*Fixed screen scaling for aspect ratios less than 1.0.
*Improved DM/PL handling:
- Handles "," as a seperator.
- Now looks only for ";:" or ";:I" as valid header.
- Handles relative plotting mode.
- Handles change in text terminator.
- Handles CC - Circle command.
- Handles both simple and extended text in DXF mode.
- Approximate text displayed on screen.
- Handles CR or LF in the middle of a number.
- Handles CA - Arc command - handled in both relative
and absolute modes.
- Handles W - Window command.
*Improved HPGL handling:
- Handles PE - Binary encoded polylines which allows
support for 7600 and DraftPro DXL/EXL plotters.
- Handles change in text terminator.
- Approximate text displayed on screen.
- Handles CR or LF in the middle of a number.
- Handles AA - Absolute Arc command.
Version 2.01 - March 5, 1989
*Fixed a couple buggy error messages.
*Improved help file.
Version 2.10 - May 13, 1990
*Fixed PE decoding to not loose first vector.
*Cleaned up window handling during plotting.
*Fixed scaled clipped plot dialogue.
*Fixed origin bug in scaled clipped plots.
*Fixed clip plot/aspect ratio problem.
*Handles lower case commands.
*Fixed handling of text in user coordinates.
*Added header and trailer files.
*Baud rates to 38.4k now supported.
*Revised parameter menus.
*Improved HPGL handling:
- Added relative mode support - PR command.
- Handles CR command for AutoCAD HPGL/2 ADI driver support.
- Added pen width support.
- Supports commands with no terminator (;).
- Handles SR command - relative character size.
*Added SPGL (Sweet-P) support.
Version 2.11 - July 10, 1990
*Improved HPGL handling:
- Added Point-Factor option to SC command for
Autodesk HPGL/2 support.
Version 2.12 - July 23, 1990
*Improved HPGL handling:
- Handles IN[n]; syntax when making DXF file.
- Confirmed compatibility with LJIII ADI driver.
*Fixed bugs in ScanPlot utility.
*Lines no longer clipped to plotter hard clip limits when "T"
option is chosen from main menu.
Version 2.13 - October 14, 1990
*Added option to rename rather than delete file during
continuous plot mode.
*Now no longer needs initialization commands.
*First version with startup delay.
*Rotates text in DXF translation.
Version 2.14 - November 7, 1990
*Fixed bug in HPGL output (OE;) command.
Version 2.20 - April 20, 1991
*PlotManager leaves monochrome 4.77Mhz 8088 development
environment in favor of 386/25 and VGA. Wow.
*Added Scaling factor.
*Fixed "Help Topic not Found" error.
*Properly handles form feed at end of file.
*Improved zoom limiting.
*Added print to file option.
*Added printable registration form.
*Revised color map.
*Improved HPGL Handling
-Error, rather than hang, on missing label terminator.
-Fixed Point-Factor scaling.
-Handle non-terminated escape commands.
Version 2.21 - April 27, 1991
*Fixed DXF colors/layers.
*Improved HPGL handling:
-Fixed Point-Factor scling in DXF mode.
-Handles non-terminated escape commands in DXF mode.
-Handles chord tolerence in DXF mode.
Version 2.22 - May 13, 1991
*Fixed handling of DM/PL "e" command.
Version 2.23 - October 6, 1991
*Improved HPGL Handling
-Now handles charting commands: TL, XT and YT.
*Fixed bug in COM3 addressing.
*Fixed keyboard shortcut for trailer file.
*Option to delete files when plotted.
*One less key to Quit.
Version 2.23a - October 10, 1991
*Major bug prevented display of most files.